This guide deals primarily with the survival mode of the game. In story mode, some things work in a different way than described here.

In the future I'll list changes here until they find their way into the guide. This will help you to get a fast view about the changes of an update. I'll remove that some time later.
Most of the sections have version numbers, so you can see which section is up to date.
However, this guide is constantly revised by me. Like the game itself, it is subject to constant change.

v1.77 - Bugfixes

v1.76

• Spray cans can now be used to place markers on buildings that appear on the map.
  
• Stones can now be used to build caches outside.
  
• There are now pictures that show special viewpoints where you can uncover large parts of the map. The size of the uncovered area when using charcoal now depends on the height the map is drawn.
  
• There is now an autorun (see keyboard layout).
  
• Aurorae should now appear in very old saves (before it was implemented in the game).
  
• Items that fall out of the map should now appear in the red boxes.
  
• As usual numerous bug fixes

You will find a short description of the regions below in this guide. If you need more information about the regions, have a look at our Travel Guide. However, this will spoil the thrill of exploration, so we urge you to go on your own. Your decision!

The conditions for certain labours always refer to skill level 1 (time to cook, harvest etc.). The corresponding bonuses can be viewed in the section Skills

All details refer (unless otherwise stated) to the difficulty Voyageur.

If we forgot something important (you tend to lose perspective over time) tell us about it.

Most important if you have problems with The long dark is the Hinterland forum[www.hinterlandforums.com] and the corresponding Steam forum

Report bugs here[hinterlandgames.zendesk.com].

And here's the Milton Post Office[www.hinterlandforums.com] where you can ask questions directly to Raphael (provided you have an account).

---

Legend: I tried to stick to the system displayed below.

→Region
Named place
Item/important
Remark/link
Section

---

If you are familiar with german you can find the original guide here:
Überlebenshandbuch

'If you stare into an abyss long enough, the abyss also stares into you.' - Friedrich Nietzsche (1844 - 1900)

'To survive war, you gotta become war.' - John Rambo

The Long Dark is a game about survival. It is expected that you act accordingly. Imagine you would really crash (maybe during a holiday flight) in such a frozen hellscape. No tutorial, no map, no proper clothing, no mercy. So do what you would do in a real situation like this.

How to survive the long dark?

That is not an easy question, but it all comes down to one thing: Knowledge. Knowledge about places, the behaviour of animals, the correct usage of tools and much more can save your life out there! Sooner or later we all fade into the long dark, but with this guide we hope to accomplish that this happens later, ... much later.

The Long Dark features Permadeath, this means if your character dies, it's over. No respawn, no rewind, no old save to fall back on... just the darkness. Your loot, the secret stash of survival gear in the hollowed out tree, your thoughtfully stocked up bases, all gone. Thats why you should always be careful out there!
Even with hundreds of hours of experience it just takes one moment of carelessness or arrogance and that's it. Keep in mind: Somewhen you are goin to kick it and when that happens, the only thing that matters is how far you've made it and what you've experienced on your journey.

And trust us, you will die - a lot. If you can learn something from that - good.

Sometimes after an update, things that were laid out openly disappear. This obviously happens when the positions of these objects become invalid due to changes in the respective level and they could therefore get out of reach.

At Hinterland they have started to transfer these things into the red Lost and Found boxes, which then appear.


These boxes appear at the respective access points to the corresponding area. In the case of interiors, at the doors, either on the inside or the outside.

For things that have been placed outside, these boxes appear at one of the region transitions! This is very annoying, because it can be miles away and in regions with more than one entrance you don't know at which entrance the box appeared.

Spoiled food then disappears without a trace, just as if you were to put it in a container yourself.
Because these boxes have an infinite capacity, it is often difficult to put all your stuff back where it was.
By the way, you can't put anything into these boxes and if they are empty they disappear after the next loading of the corresponding region.

First things first: There is no way to jump in this game.

1 = Select light source
2 = Select weapon
3 = Drop bait
4 = Light fire

R = Reload weapon
H = Holster equipped item
C = Clothing
F = Status screen
I = Inventory (backpack)
J = Journal
M = Map
Z = Autowalk. This only works if it has been activated in Options - Accessibility.
Q/E = rotate Markings/Items

CTRL left = crouch ; SHIFT left = sprint

Tab = Shows your basic stats
Space = Radial menu

Almost all processes can be interrupted with ESC. Except for sleeping and lighting fires. Repairing and mending cannot be interrupted by ESC, only by clicking on 'Cancel'


The radial menu provides the following actions:

• Light sources (the same as pressing the 1-key)
  
• Food
  
• Weapons (the same as pressing the 2-key)
  
• Drop bait (the same as pressing the 3-key)
  
• Mapping (M)
  
• Camp actions (starting fires, placing traps, building snow shelters, waiting)
  
• First aid
  
• Drinks
  
• and the status screen in the middle

The description of the handling at cooking is given in the corresponding section.

The Journal:


In Survival mode the journal has the pages (left side, from top to bottom) Protocol, Skills, Collectibles, Rock Caches, Notes and Statistics.

Weapons and combat:
When you are fighting a wolf, your only option is to mash the left mouse button; in a fight with a bear or moose you can do nothing.

Using a bow: Hold the left mouse button until the bowstring is fully drawn; release to fire. If you change your mind halfway through, you can slacken the bow by pressing the right mouse button.

Using firearms: Use the right mouse button to aim and the left mouse button to fire.

Last but not least; placing objects:
If you want to place something a certain way, drop it and then right click on it. Now you can move it anywhere you like and lay it down with the left mouse button.
However, this does not work with the lantern! The lantern is placed directly with the right mouse button.

Most actions are now triggered by holding the mouse button instead of clicking. This behaviour can be switched in the options menu.
Since v1.48 you can also change the hectic clicks during a wolf fight to a simple hold.

The HUD
Monolith lake in the Hushed River Valley. You won't find a monolith here, I stole it from '2001 - A Space Odyssey'.

AutoWalk Script
Many people are tired of keeping a button pressed during long journeys. With the help of the program AutoHotKey this can be remedied.
You can find instructions on how to do this comfortably here.

So, you think you are ready for the long dark? The sandbox-mode has four difficulty settings and a growing number of challenges:

Difficulty settings:

Pilgrim: The easiest one. Animals only attack when they are provoked and you'll find tons of useful stuff. The weather is nice and cozy and it takes a while for you to get hungry or thirsty. There are no such things as parasites or cabin fever. Ideal for learning the basics of the game. (5 feats selectable)

Voyageur: Animals attack as soon as they sense you, it is colder, you'll find less stuff. Hunger and thirst are serious enemies. Good for fighting your first battles and explore the different regions. (4 feats selectable)

Stalker: Way less loot and everything is trying to kill you: the weather, the animals, the diseases. This is real survival. (3 feats selectable)

Interloper: You'll start with almost nothing, you will have to handcraft axes and knives. You can select two feats to help you and you will need them badly. There are:
no rifles or revolver; no bunkers and more buildings are destroyed; less wolves, but the remaining ones are incredibly dangerous.
You should only play this mode if you know TLD in and out, stalker is too easy for you and you have nerves of steel. A lot of things you can learn from this guide are useless on this difficulty setting.
We will not elaborate on this gamemode, except it is about things that are exclusive to it.

Userdefined Setting: Here you can make all the important settings yourself. Badges can be used but there is no progress on them. If you're still inexperienced, you better leave it alone. On some of the settings you will simply lack the experience of what far-reaching effects they may have. If you select one of the predefined difficulty levels, you can see which setting is used in it.

The regions:

• →Mystery Lake: This is the central region on Great Bear Island. It has a good base point with the Carter Dam. However, it is no longer recommended as a starting region.
  
  
• →Coastal Highway: →Bigger than Mystery Lake and the most densely populated area of all. Many houses, therefore a good source of canned goods and clothes, all while being packed with wolves.
  
  
• →Pleasant Valley: The biggest region so far. Rather rural, but in turn rich in wild plants and it features the best home ever: the Pleasant Valley Homestead. For some reasons it is somewhat stormier compared to other regions.
  
  
• →Desolation Point: Rather small and industrial. There is not much to discover, but the important places are easy to reach. This region harbors one of the forges. A forge is the only way to make tools and arrowheads.
  
  
• →Timberwolf Mountain: Total wilderness. There is just one building, but a ton of loot. Not recommended for rookies.
  
  
• →Forlorn Muskeg: Also a total no-go for beginners! But there is another forge located here, how about that?
  
  
• →Bleak Inlet: The most dangerous region in TLD. The only place where you can craft ammunition.
  
  
• →Broken Railroad: Like Forlon Muskeg no funny place for rookies.
  
  
• →Mountain Town: The region around the city of Milton, where you can now explore the large valley basin (which is not accessible in storymode). Very good place to start.
  
  
• →Hushed River Valley: The rugged wilderness north of →Mountain Town. There are no buildings and hardly any landmarks. This should be the last place a beginner should visit.

You can also try your luck and let the game choose a starting location. Each region has good and bad starting points but the biggest deciding factor for the success of your first trys is the weather.

If you start in the middle of nowhere in the midst of a blizzard, forget about it! Try again.

Another thing: Yes, there are maps, but we recommend that you try your luck with finding your own path and draw your own maps (see section Maps). There is nothing better than venturing out in the unknown and finding a breathtaking or secret location all by yourself. The experience of discovering so many things is one-time only and videos or maps spoil it completely. So think twice before looking those things up. But if you really need the help, there is always our Travel Guide.

So, everything ready? Did you pick your starting region and difficulty? Then let's go! You can select between 2 and 5 feats for your sandbox game, providing that you achieved them. Those can not be changed while playing.

The first hours of survival are definitely the hardest, especially if you are not familiar with the region. You'll start without warm clothing and you are not exactly a pro when it comes to starting a fire. You should expect to need multiple tries to get a fire going.

That's why your first enemy is the...

Cold: Try to stay clear of the wind, i.e. stay close to walls and watch the direction of the wind. That'll slow down the cooling process. If you get too cold, start a fire to warm up. That's better than to roam around blindly, hoping to find a nice fireplace. Gather some sticks for your fire while you are walking and don't bother trying to take apart larger limbs. That would take a lot of time and trust me, you have no time to spare.

The Long Dark is not a fast paced game! You might want to sprint ahead to escape the cold. DON'T! Sprinting does not only drain stamina, it also furthers hunger and exhaustion. Plus, it increases the risk of a sprained ankle, especially on inclines.
Save your sprint for emergencies or when you exactly know how far you'll have to walk to your destination. In all other cases: get used to the walking speed.
Also, you should not travel when you are over encumbered. You can carry a maximum of 30kg/66lbs, even less when you are tired. If you cross that threshold, you are over encumbered. You'll walk even slower and get tired quickly. At least at 60kg/132lbs you can't move anymore.
It may be tempting, especially in the beginning, to pocket anything useful but if you don't know how to survive the next few days, this kind of clutter could kill you.

At first, you should try to fix up your clothing. This means you take whatever clothes you find, compare their stats, wear the best ones, repair it if possible. Either stash the rest somewhere, so you can pick it up later, or tear it up if you are out of leather or cloth. Carry only the most important items! (see section What now?)

Surely a spare knife would be useful, but it's weight is too much right now. Stash these kind of items in places you will be able to find later on, and fetch them as soon as you've found a home. This is where your journal comes in handy! It has six sections: daily notes, skills, collectibles, rock caches, diary and statistics.


Use it to jot down the locations of your findings to retrieve them later.

This get us to...

Orientation: If you know the regions, you can definitely try to find the places you are familar with. And if you are not?

Look for something that can help you to find your way: A river, a street or any other recognizable place. This prevents you from running around in circles and improves the chances of finding a house or some kind of shelter. If you can't see streets or rivers, try to find an elevated position and look for landmarks.
With the spray cans available since v1.76 you can put a marker on almost everything, most of them are also shown on the map.

Your first hours of TLD will be tough if you lack a good sense of orientation. You can support yourself by using fires to mark important places. You can also lay out directional arrows with stones, sticks, burnt out flares or torches.

My home is my castle (a base): Don't get me wrong, at first it is good enough if it is warm and dry. But for long-term survival you're going to need a place that fits the following criteria:

• A firepit or an oven: If you have to go outside everytime you cook, you're gonna spend too much time in the cold. Additionally, an oven or stove works during a blizzard. Believe me, you will not believe how important a proper fireplace is, until you have to drink out of the toilet because you are unable to melt snow.
  
  
• A lot of space: Furs and guts (see section Hunting) have to be cured (placed on the floor) inside, so it is useful to have enough space for them.
  
  
• Enough containers: If you have limited space, it is important to have many containers. If all of your stuff is just lying in a pile on the floor, you will have a hard time trying to pick up anything specific.
  
  
• A bed: It is always good to have a place to rest. You can sleep anywhere with the bedroll, but it will decay over time and it will have to be repaired from time to time. It is much nicer to sleep in a real bed at home.
  
  
• A workbench: Not every home is equipped with one of these, but if the building you selected has one, even better. You'll need the workbench to craft snare traps, bows, arrows, fur clothing and much more. (see section Crafting)
  
  
• Light: It can't hurt if your new home is well lit. Some buildings are quite dark, even during the day. Using your lantern is not recommendable. Lamp oil is a precious resource and should not be wasted. Make a habit of grabbing burning twigs once you have a fire going and placing them in your building. Don't worry, nothing can catch on fire.

It is best to establish a main base with good storage and crafting capabilities and then set up smaller outposts during your journeys into other regions. You can see which places are suitable in the travel guide.
Once you've found your home, set up your base. If you go out, just take the things you absolutely need with you. And don't try to do several things at once, as it often ends badly.

Stuff like the whetstone or the rifle cleaning kit can be left at home. Even if your tools wear out, you can always fix them once you are home. Less room for tools, more room for loot!
Over time you'll likely pick out some kind of equipment you always pack. The rest depends on your plans, the difficulty and your style of playing.
For example, a weapon is dead weight on pilgrim difficulty but rather useful on higher difficulty levels.

You can set up caches with 66 lbs / 30 kg storage capacity outdoors from 50 stones (maximum 5 per region). These depots can be named and are very helpful to create your own storage areas, especially in regions with few buildings or vehicles. This also works in the front part of open caves!

In the diary you can make notes for them.

Also, try to have the materials for a snow shelter handy.


It is built very quickly and can save your life if a blizzard hits you in the middle of nowhere.

Your first day should slowly be over by now. If you have some time before sunset, use the time to gather firewood or boil water for the next days. You should absolutely stay away from wolves during the first days. (unless you have a knife, a hatchet or a prybar)

Once you have set up your first base, you can start exploring your surroundings. Don't get tempted to travel too far or even to another region.
It is wise to stay close at first and gather resources for a while. You'll need equipment and a proper supply of food, water and fuel. You won't make much progress if you have to go get these every two days.

Almost everything found on the maps is randomized, there are only few things spawning always in the same spot. That means that most lists of spawns (from wikis or guides) are rather useless. Our travel guide does hardly contain them either.

Back to the various items of equipment:

• Medicine: This items are described in the (section Injuries and Afflictions)
  
  
• Sleeping bag: It is one of the most important equipment in the game. Without it, you can only sleep in a bed, a vehicle or a snow shelter!
  
  
• Sewing kit: You'll need this to craft new clothing at a workbench und to repair your old clothing. It is also possible to repair clothes with fishing tackle.
  
  
• Weapons: Either a bow, a revolver or a rifle. Weapons are of course useful for hunting or defending against animals.
  
  
• Knife and hatchet: Your all-purpose tools. From chopping wood to harvesting animals, knives and hatchets are used for almost anything.
  
  
• Sharpening stone and rifle maintenance kit: With these you can improve the condition of knives, hatchets and rifles. Remember, as the condition of your rifle gets worse, it is more likely to jam.
  
  
• Hacksaw: The saw is needed to reduce metal objects to scrap metal and to open freight containers. It is also usable to harvest carcasses and firewood and to dismantle car batteries.
  
  
• Hammer: This item is usually only important for forging, so don't carry that hefty thing around. (see section Forging) In Interloper, however, it is the most important wolf joker
  
  
• Toolkit: The toolkit is not as important as in earlier versions of TLD, but it is still used to repair saws, can openers, hammers, cooking pots and lanterns. It can also be reduced to scrap.
  
  
• Cooking pot and recycled can: You need them to melt snow and cook the various teas and the coffee.
  
  
• Emergency Flare (red): You can throw it at a wolf to chase him away, but this is rather unlikely. They don't make for a great light source, since they don't emit that much light and can't be turned off. But it can be used to start a fire!
  
  
• Marine Flare (blue): In principle the same applies as for the above mentioned, they lower the morale of Timberwolf packs.
  
  
• Torch: There are two kinds of Torches. Those you can get from a fire place and those you can craft at a workbench. The only difference is the burning time.
  
  
• Storm lantern: Lanterns can be found in many buildings and can be refilled with petroleum and lamp oil. They emit the most light and can be lit without a match. They consume a quater litre of fuel per hour (~0.07 gal/h)
  
  
• Petroleum: This type of fuel can only be found in large canisters. Lamp oil however, is found in small bottles and gathered from cooking fish. Furthermore the lamp oil left when a lantern is scrapped will be transferred in an available canister.
  
  
• Firestriker: These are relatively rare. They lose condition when you use them and increase the probability of success.
  
  
• Coffee: The only way to combat exhaustion (excluding sleep and emergency stims) and is a great source of warmth when freshly brewed.
  
  
• Herbal tea and Birch bark tea: Excellent at providing warmth and helps regeneration of condition.
  
  
• Charcoal: Used to draw the maps. You can get it from burnt-out fires.
  
  
• Prybar: Used to pry open cartrunks and lockers. It can also be used to open the ice holes for fishing.
  
  
• Flashlight: Only usefull at night while an aurora.
  
  
• Moose hide satchel: Very useful. It weighs carried 0.42 lbs and lifts the carrying limit from 66 to 77 lbs. So you get 10.58 lbs more load capacity.
  
  
• Spray cans: Very useful if you are not familiar with the regions. You can leave marks almost everywhere.

Many players have faded into the long dark because they underestimated the cold. The cold doesn't only kill you while you're trudging through a blizzard, that kind of cold is predictable. Mostly the cold catches you while you're busy with other things.

For example: you lie down for a nice 6-hour nap outside. You light a fire, snuggle up in your bedroll and... you never wake up. What happened?

First of all, campfires are susceptible to wind, so maybe the wind changed directions or got stronger, blowing out your fire. (see section About fire)
But it is also very likely that a storm approached or the sun went down, which in turn lowers the temperature drastically.
Nowadays your stats are displayed while completing tasks that take longer (harvesting wood etc.). You can abort them all, including 'Waiting' by pressing the ESC key.
Exceptions are the lighting of a fire and sleeping! So be sure of what you're doing when you lay down!
If you absolutely have to sleep outside, only do it in short intervals, no longer than three hours.

The "feels like"-temperature is the most important temperature, it is calculated like this:

Feels like temperature = (air temperature+warmth bonus) + (windchill+wind protection)*
*this value can not be positive! The cold caused by the wind can only be countered by clothing or your surroundings.

The feat cold fusion is also very helpful. After you've spent a total of 100 days outside, you'll gain a permanent boost of 2°C / 4°F to the air-temperature.

Those two resistances are determined by your clothing and its condition. (see section Clothing) Note: Strenuous tasks do not warm you up.

You can always escape the windchill by seeking shelter. The shelter icon is also helpful to find a good place to start a fire. If it is very cold and you absolutely have to sleep or gut a deer, then light a fire!
You can also heat up certain foods and drinks to get a heat bonus (if eaten while still hot) on your feels like-temperature. Hollowed out trees also make for great shelter.

The cold is your worst enemy in this game and underestimating it is your first step towards doom.

You can also build a makeshift snow shelter that shelters you from wind. When inside, it can also grant the bonus of a bedroll in your inventory (bedroll 5°C / 9°F and bearskin bedroll 12°C / 22°F).

The snow shelter itself provides you a warmth bonus of 15°C / 27°F. Decay rate is approx. 10%/day.
It does NOT protect you from animal attacks!

The bed of fir branches found in some caves gives a heat bonus of 2°C / 4°F .

In the rear area of open caves it's always warmer!

If you want to survive the cold, you need to know how to start a proper fire. Outside this can be done either via the radial menu or directly via the shortcut '4'.


Inside simply click on the stove.


You'll need wood, tinder and something to light it. Additionally, you can add accelerant or lamp oil to increase your chance of success and shorten the time it takes to light the fire. The chance of success depends on the materials used, the surroundings and the fire starting-skill of your character.


Campfires are harder to light than fires in stoves or fireplaces, since they are influenced by wind. Mind the direction of the wind while placing your campfire and remember that the direction can change.

A fire has two values: Burn duration and heat output. The higher the output, the faster you will warm up. You can increase these two values by adding fuel after lighting it. The heat output increases with every piece of wood added and stays the same until the fire goes out.

Attention: Outside fire burns considerably longer than indicated due to the cold! So if you intend to achieve a certain burning time by choosing the fuel, you should set half of the desired value plus about 5 minutes per hour:

So e.g. desired burning duration 2 hours -> set burning duration ~70 minutes

The following time values are taken with a fire starting-skill of 1. They increase along with your skill.

• Reclaimed wood: Burns as long as cedar firewood (2h/kg ;55min/lbs), used to craft torches and snare traps.You can get it by disassembling furniture, wooden planks, pallets ,crates etc.
  
  
• Sticks: Can be found nearly everywhere or can be obtainded from small branches(2) or dead scrubs(7). Burn duration 40min/kg ;18min/lbs
  
  
• Cedar firewood: Easy to light, easy to find. Burn duration 2h/kg ;55min/lbs
  
  
• Fir firewood: Rarer than cedar. Burn duration 1.5h/kg ;40min/lbs
  
  
• Firelog: Very rare, can only be found in or near houses. Burn duration 1h/kg ;27min/lbs
  
  
• Books: Mostly found in houses. Books are easy to light and therefore an ideal foundation for a fire. Pretty unrealistic, since books are tough to burn. Skill books should be read before you burn them.
  
  
• Torches: You can also burn torches from your inventory. Thats a big waste of resources, but in case of emergency...
  
  
• Coal: It's the fuel with the highest burn duration per weight (3.3h/kg ;81min/lbs) and is mostly found in mines. The fire has to burn for a few minutes until you can add coal. Coal is critical for the forging process. (see section Forging)

• Tinder plug: You can obtain tinder plugs by breaking down limbs or twigs or by ripping apart newsprints and bank notes.
  
  
• Cat tails: These grow close to many lakes and streams. Good source of tinder, if you are living next to a lake.
  
  
• Birch bark: Found close to (guess what) birch trees, but you should better save this for the birch bark tea.

• Wooden matches: The most reliable matches around.
  
  
• Cardboard matches: These come in 20- and 40-match packs. They should be unusable after you fall into water, but thankfully they aren't.
  
  
• Firestriker: It is rare and wears out with prolonged use. You can use it approximately 50 times. The chances of success are somewhat higher than with matches.
  
  
• Magnifying glass: With this, you can light fires outside under sunny conditions. This saves resources, but only works with clear skies. You can bring the fire inside by taking a torch out and using that to light the fire inside.
  
  
• Torch/Flare: You can also light fires with a burning torch or a flare.

If you are in a hurry: use accelerant, lamp oil or in case of emergency gun powder.

A campfire or a stove (also the furnace) offer the following activities:

Melting snow, boiling water and cooking food.

You can get charcoal from burnt out fire places. It's used to draw maps and to craft ammunition.

Important: If you have only a few matches light a torch first and then make a campfire with it. In case you fail you have a few more trys without wasting matches.

To keep the text shorter I use the abbreviations LC and RC for left click and right click.

First of all: You don't have to collect the snow that you melt at a fireplace to get water. It is available everywhere automatically in unlimited quantity.

Since v1.41 a selection with options is displayed when clicking on a cooking slot. From there you can now put the things directly on the fire without the detour via the radial menu or the casting off, as described below.


Each fireplace now has one or more cooking slots (max. six for larger stoves)
Meat and preserves are placed on these slots to prepare them.
For liquids (water, coffee, tea), recycled cans or cooking pots must first be placed on these slots.

As soon as something is ready you have to take it off so that it does not burn or evaporate. There is a spare time off approx. 30-35 minutes for this.

A. Meat / Preserves:

- Open your inventory and make sure that the needed parts are in the radial menu.


- Open the radial menu
- Select the desired item with RC


Attention! With LC the item is consumed! You'll be warned if it's raw meat.

- Now place it on one of the cooking slots. Canned foods are opened automatically

(Alternatively, you can place the meat or the tin on the floor and then drag it onto the cooking slot with RC. This method best suits me, I put everything I need on the floor in front of me and move the stuff onto the slots as needed.)

While cooking:

After LC on an item you can take it (LC) or wait until its ready (Spacebar). It should be noted that this is only done with the item with the shortest time or other items may burn/evaporate during this time.

You can also put the meat in a cooking pot. That reduces the cooking times by 20%.

B. Liquids:

- First place a cooking pot or recycled can on the slot.
- Select it with LC
- In the now appearing window you can select the desired item.

When melting or boiling water, please note that the indicated time only refers to the respective process. If a duration of e.g. 15 minutes is displayed during melting, the complete process takes approx. 30 minutes, i.e. twice the time.
With 2 litres of water and a 'Cooking'-skill of 1 approx. 2.5 hours with a skill of 5 approx. 2 hours.


The required time depends on the item, your cooking-skill and the quantity resp. the weight. It is therefore quite pointless to indicate any times here.

Make sure that the burning time of the fire is sufficient, outside you can experience some surprises.
(see the previous Section About Fire)

Indoors, cooking can also be controlled by the burning time of the fire. If you have something on the stove that takes e.g. 2 hours and you have to leave for a longer time, then you can set the burning time with sticks so that the fire goes out before the stuff is burnt or evaporated.

You can also heat preserves by placing them close to the fireplace. However, this takes considerably longer.

Recommended activities while cooking:

• Repairing of tools
  
• Mending or disassembling clothes
  
• Sharpening of tools or cleaning the rifle
  
• Collect sticks
  
• Fishing
  
• Reading books
  
• Crafting of simple items: Bandages, fishing rods, hooks or strings

Hunger is based on your energy supply and your energy usage, meaning that you'll get hungrier the more you exhaust yourself. Also, salty food (crackers, beef jerky etc.) increases your thirst. You can find out more about the different food items in the section Food.

Water can be aquired by melting snow on a campfire. Bear in mind that it has to be boiled afterwards to prevent food poisoning. Water scooped from toilets or bowls can be used immediately, but it is advisable to leave it there for emergencies.

Sleep or coffee helps against fatique (or even the emergency stim or the energy drink). The more you walk, run or otherwise exhaust yourself, the more you tire (which lowers your carrying capacity). Sometime you're gonna have to lay down and since that is not possible in every location, you'll have to carry a sleeping bag and keep it intact. (see section Repairing / Mending)

Stamina is a whole other thing. As long as you aren't doing anything strenous, it will regenerate. You can extend it with emergency stims. As soon as your stamina hits zero, you'll be powerless; you won't be able to run, climb or perform other exhausting tasks. This is not fully implemented, as you can gut a deer or repair with drained stamina. Stamina can be affected by your clothing or injuries/afflictions, which is represented by the red zone on your stamina bar.
Since v1.48 there is also a special endurance which is only valid for aiming with bow and rifle. It is handled separately and only displayed during this process.

The emergency stim and the energy drink:
They help to reduce fatigue and exhaustion in an emergency. Especially helpful when climbing and on the run. (see section Injuries and afflictions

You should store excess sleeping bags at important locations without a bed. (e.g. the dam, the cave next to the plane crash site or somewhere in the transit zones) This way you'll establish a permanent sleeping place there.
It is also possible to sleep in cars or the snow shelter without a sleeping bag, but keep an eye on your temperature. You would not be the first player to freeze to death in a car! (The "sleeping bag"-symbol in the radial menu is quite misleading, since it means "sleep here", not "use sleeping bag")


You can only sleep when you are tired enough or an affliction (e.g. food poisoning) requires it. Otherwise you are only able to "pass time" to wait out large stretches of time. Your stats during that time will decrease as if you are just standing around.
Adding to this is the risk of cabin fever. (see section Injuries and afflictions)

One last thing: If you have to sleep outside, light a fire. Not only will it provide warmth, it will also keep wolves away. Just be sure you are not resting on a bear route, otherwise you might be in for a rude awakening. Also, you should only sleep in intervals of about 3 hours.

Because of the extreme cold, you'll need a lot of energy just to keep your body temperature, even while not lifting a finger. But since you are trudging through deep snow with a heavy backpack most of the time, your energy consumption is exorbitant.

When choosing your food, there are a few things to consider, but the most important are the rate of decay and the density of energy (i.e. the kilocalorie(energy) to kilogram(weight)-ratio)

For example, a kilogram of venison has a nutritional value of 800 kcal(=kilocalories) and thusly a ratio of precisely 800 kcal/kg ; 363 kcal/lbs. A military-grade MRE, on the other hand, packs 1750 kcal with a weight of 0,5 kg; which correlates to a ratio of 3500 kcal/kg ;1590 kcal/lbs.
Why is this important? Because, if you only pack one kilogram/pound of food, the MRE will last you roughly 4 times as long as the venison. So, if you have a choice, pack food with a high density of energy and low condition for the road and eat the rest at home.

Meat, fish and water should always be cooked before consumption. Meat will lose a bit of nutritional value in the process, but the consumption of raw meat or impure water will most likely lead to food poisoning. (see section Injuries and afflictions)

Every item of food can lead to food poisoning! The type and condition of it merely determine the risk!

Important: Eating/drinking can always be aborted (ESC)! This means that you can eat just a bit of meat or a sip of tea if you cancel the process.

The energy consumption is varying in between the four difficulty settings. The rate of consumption is lowest on pilgirm setting and highest on voyageurr. On stalker, the rate is about 20% lower compared to voyageur. Trying to write down fixed values would be pointless, since the actual rate is determined by what you're doing and how you're doing it. This is especially true for interloper difficulty.

The feat efficient machine lowers your energy consumption, but it requires you to have survived a total of 500 days.

For stalker and interloper difficulties: Here, the consumption of wolf and bear meat can lead to intestinal parasites (see section injuries and afflictions).

Food can be separated into the following categories:

• Canned food: This includes tomato soup, pork and beans, dog food, pinnacle peaches, sardines and condensed milk.
  Canned food is ideal, if you have no time or opportunity to hunt. They have a good nutrition/weight ratio and take some time to spoil. You can also heat up most canned foods and beverages(in cups), which will grant you a warmth bonus for a short time after consumption.
  
  A major drawback is that you have to open the cans first. This would normally require a can opener, but a knife, hatchet or hacksaw will do. You can also smash them open, which generally spills some of the contents. After consumption, the empty can goes into your inventory.
  As far as the can opener is concerned, only carry one if you have to open a lot of cans. Sardines and condensed milk can be opened without tools.
  
  
• Soda cans: This includes orange soda, grape soda and summit soda.
  Soda cans take a good while to expire and satiate a bit of hunger because of the contained sugar.
  
  
• Sweets and snacks: This includes crackers, peanut butter, chocolate, granlola and energy bars. These have great nutrition/weight ratios and therefore make for great travel rations. Although the salty snacks will make you quite thirsty.
  
  
• Cat tail stalks: The ultimate emergency food. Also, pretty nutritious, with their 3000 kcal/kg ; 1360 kcal/lbs ratio. Only grows next to bodies of water. The cat tail heads make for great tinder.
  
  
• Tea and coffee: This includes rose hip tea, reishi tea, herbal tea, birch bark tea and coffee.
  You should only use these beverages for medicinical purposes. Every cup contains 125 kcal.
  
  
• Fish: Fish has the advantage of yielding a bit of lamp oil when it is cooked. Since the size of caught fish increases with your skill, so fishing becomes a viable alternative for long term survival.
  
  
• Meat: This includes bear, wolf, deer and rabbit meat.
  Meat does not have a good nutrition/weight ratio, but is infinitely available.
  
  
• The rest: MREs, Beef Jerky, Airline Food.
  Because of the low weight and the basically endless durability, these are ideal to deposit at remote, rarely visited places (e.g. the Riken). Or as a food source when hauling a lot of stuff.
  
  
• Water: Water can not only be gained by melting snow, but can also be scooped from bowls and toilets. Never drink unsafe water!
  One thing about water purification tablets: They can be used as an alternative to boiling. Useful are these things at best in the interloper difficulty.
  
  Well then, bon appetit.
  
  
  And oh, before i forget:
  
  If you don't starve for 72 hours you'll get a buff on your load capacity (5 kg ; 11 lbs) and on your health.
  
  

The dissection of larger carcasses can take a long time, this is why we would advise you to start a fire. It'll keep you warm and the wolves away. Plus, you can cook stuff.

Your 'harvesting-skill' influences this process in different ways (see section Skills and feats).


Since the place you've dissected the carcass becomes a scent point (see section Wolves), you must not linger too long.

When dissecting, you are presented with the choice to cut it up completely right on the spot or to quarter it and take it apart later. (as long as the carcass is no more than 50% frozen)


The two pictures were taken with a 'harvesting-skill' level 1. As you can see, the quartering only takes about half the time of dismantling. This gain in time shrinks almost to parity as your skill increases. The following pictures were taken at skill level 5.


Only with the big heavy animals bear and moose there is still a time advantage here.

A bear, once completely dismantled and ...
... once quartered. Harvesting-skill level 5


Decay rates:

The decay rates vary slightly depending on the type of meat. The values here are average values since there is a difference on the meat types.


Outside includes: car trunks and other containers in the region.

As you can see, the meat bags spoil very fast, so storing them isn't feasible. If they have not yet been moved they are scent points. (see section Wolves)

So why should you quarter a carcass? It only makes sense with moose and bears. The main problem is that the meat bags weight twice as much as the meat they contain.


Dividing your kill into these heavy meat bags is only feasible under certain conditions:

• you don't have much time because of the cold, or it is too windy to light a fire.
  
• you don't carry much weight, so the additional weight doesn't matter.
  
• you won't have to go far to your base.
  
• your 'Harvest skill' is low.
  
• there are no wolves nearby. (they'll eat all those bags away otherwise)

If you can't take everything from a carcass, just cut the meat, take as much as you can carry and leave the rest. You can then cut out the fur and guts the end and take them with you.

You can find more in the forest than just firewood...


There are a few useful plants we would like to introduce to you:

• Cat tails: These useful little things only grow next to lakes and rivers. Their stalks are edible and are a kind of emergency food supply. Their heads make for great tinder.
  
  
• Old man's beard lichen: Hanging down from tree branches. You can use them to craft antiseptic wound dressings (replacement for antiseptics)
  
  
• Reishi mushrooms: These flat mushrooms grow on old tree stumps. You can use a quarter liter of water and two mushrooms to prepare an antibiotic tea. (replaces antibiotics)
  
  
• Rose hips: Look for withered-looking bushes filled with red fruit. With a quarter liter of water and 24 rose hips you can prepare a tea with painkilling abilities. (replaces painkillers)
  
  
• Scrubs: Looks like empty rose hip bushes and can be reduced to 7 sticks.
  
  
• Birch saplings: (gray) When you are close to birch trees, watch out for small trees. If you dry them for 5 days they can be used to craft arrow shafts.
  
  
• Maple sapling: (green) Rarer than birch saplings. A maple saplings has to be dried for 7 days before you can use it along with two pieces of cured gut to craft a bow.

Rose hips and reishi mushrooms need additional preparation before they can be used to make tea from it.

None of these plants are able to regrow! What is gone, is gone.

In the Long Dark, your health is called condition and is measured in percent. As the cold, hunger, thirst, fatigue and infections take their toll, you will lose more and more of your condition. It can only be regenerated in your sleep and when it drops to zero, you will fade into the long dark.

• Bleeding: This is the most common injury if you are attacked by wild animals and it carries a risk of infection. Bleeding should be treated immediately, since you could forget about it and bleed to death in your sleep. Treated with: Bandages, lichen wound dressings, antiseptic.
  
  
• Sprained ankle: You always have the risk of spraining your ankle which will slow you down and prevent you from running until you bandage the wound or get some sleep. Painkillers are only needed if the limited vision is bothering you.
  
  
• Sprained wrist: Even more annoying. This prevents you from climbing and shooting. It is cured the same way as a sprained ankle. Since v1.48 there is an indication if there is a risk of sprain. If overloading or fatigue is the cause, a text message is displayed (absolutely annoying as it cannot be switched off). If the terrain is the cause it's only displayed as an icon.
  
  
• Food poisoning: One of these can ALWAYS happen. The condition of the water or food item merely determines the probability.
  When poisoned, you'll constantly lose condition until you've consumed antibiotics (or reishi tea) AND rested at least 10 hours. You don't have to sleep the ten hours at once. (Might take longer on Interloper difficulty)
  
  
• Parasites: Only occurs on Stalker or Interloper and is caused by consuming wolf or bear meat. Whether or not you get parasites is calculated once a day. The probability increases each time you consume such meat and is reset once you go a day without. Once you are infected, you have to take an antibiotic or a reishi tea each day, for 10 days (Stalker) or 20 days (Interloper).
  
  
• Cabin fever: If you spend six consecutive days inside of a building, cave or mine (estimated 100-120 of the 144 total hours; it is practically impossible to determine the exact value), you'll freak out.
  This means that you can not sleep or rest inside of a building. The only cure is to spend time outside. When starting a new game there is a grace time. 50 days on Voyageur and 25 days on Stalker. (No grace time on Interloper!)
  
  
• Hypothermia: If you spend too much time in the cold or you fall into water, you'll get hypothermia. You'll have to spend a certain time (depending on your difficulty) in a warm place ("feels like"-temperature above 0°C / 32°F), your condition will be limited to 75% until then. (see also in section Wet!)
  
  
• Burns: If you touch power lines or connected metal parts during an Aurora, you will suffer severe burns. They are treated with painkillers and bandages.
  
  
• Frostbite: If a piece of clothing on a body part is frozen solid or you are not wearing anything at all, there is the risk of frostbite.This will subtract 10% of your maximal condition. If several body parts are affected (e.g. hands and feet), this effect will stack.
  It takes some time, since your clothing has to be completely wet and frozen.
  If your hypothermia is still mild, take off the affected clothes at a frostbite risk of 50%, since they don't warm you anyways.
  
  Hypothermia can be treated, but a frostbite will last you the rest of the game.
  
  Of course, if you fall into the water, everything gets wet. If you can not find a safe place then and get a good fire going, you're done.
  
  
• Broken ribs: If a moose kicked you, you'll have broken ribs. That's a pretty bad thing, because the healing takes over 120 hours of rest and/or sleep. During this time (that takes about 8-10 days) you can't climb any more, your endurance is limited to 25% and your carrying capacity is reduced by 25% (from 66 to 50 lbs). For each additional broken rib, 24 hours are added.
  
  
• Death agony: If your condition drops below 10%, your death dance begins. It manifests itself in almost completely uncontrollable movements and an increasingly restrictive view. There is usually only a rescue if you use a emergency syringe, drink a birch bark tea or can sleep.

Food poisoning and sprains are the only afflictions you can take lightly. Every other affliction requires immediate attention.

If you are at risk of cabin fever, frostbite, parasites or hypothermia, you will be notified. These will not hit you out of the blue.

Treatment can be made from inventory or radial menu. First choose the item and then the wound/affliction you will use it for.


Important: If you don't starve for 72 hours you get a buff on your load capacity (5 kg ; 11 lbs) and on your condition.

There are some things you can use to increase your condition and endurance and reduce your fatigue: all times in real time (game time)

• Emergency stim: It immediately increases your health by 15%, fatigue and exhaustion are ignored for one minute (15 min.). After that, however, you should be in a safe place, as you will collapse.
  
  
• GO-Energy drink:Fatigue is ignored, exhaustion however only as far as you are not overloaded. The effect lasts longer than with a syringe, but afterwards you have headaches that cannot be treated with painkillers.
  
  
• Birch bark tea: It lets your condition slowly rise for 8 minutes (2 h).
  
  
• Herbal tea: It provides an improved recovery while sleeping (6h). In combination with birch bark tea it is ideal for an extensive healing sleep .
  
  
• Coffee: It slightly reduces your fatigue for 4 minutes (1h) and makes it rise more slowly.

With the badge Straight to the Heart, the effects of the emergency stim, energy drink and coffee last 25% longer.

(see section Needs)

At the →Coastal Highway, the →Old Island Connector and →Desolation Point it is possible to break through the sea ice, if you go out far enough. This can also happen at →Forlorn Muskeg and →Bleak Inlet. As you can surely imagine, you'll be in serious trouble if this happens.

I've tried it out, so you can see for yourself.


I walked out on the ice at the Commuter's Lament, air temperature 14°F ; -10°C , little wind. So pretty docile conditions.

My clothes after the fall.



You immediately enter freezing condition and any wind protection is gone. With hostile weather conditions and the common -13°F ; -25°C to -31°F ; -35°C degrees air temperature this is life threatening. Your clothing will begin to freeze too and become heavier. If parts are completely frozen you can also get frostbite.


I did this on Pilgrim difficulty. In Voyager you have to stay 12 hours (in Stalker 18) in the warmth to get rid of hypothermia.

So if you go beach combing or have to pass a waterfall, do yourself a favor and ditch your clothes.

At →Forlorn Muskeg often only your foot- and legwear will be wet, that's not a bug. The water here is rather flat in many places.

You are able to survive on old world stuff for a while, but sooner or later you will have to kill something in order to survive.

• Fish: Some regions contain small ice fishing huts. You'll only need something to break the ice and some fishing tackle. Fishing tackle consists of line and hook, both can be crafted at the work bench from scrap metal and cured gut, respectively.
  
  
• Rabbits: You can shoot rabbits, however it is best to use snare traps. Just place the trap in an area with a lot of rabbits. They are not a good source of food though. You might be able to replenish your food supply with them and use the furs and guts to craft, but you can not live on rabbit meat alone.
  By the way, the rabbit won't actually run into the traps, they merely spawn in them. This is why you can't chase them into a snare trap. If you got the badge Expert Trapper the snares are much more effective.
  
  Quick tip:
  You don't have to look personally to see whether or not the trap was successful. If you remember the number of killed rabbits in your journal at the time of placing the trap, you can sporadically look if the number increases.
  
  Of course you can also shoot them with a revolver or bow, but of course you should only do that if it has to be fast.
  
  You can stun rabbits with stones for a short time. In prone its easy to sneak up very close. They sometimes stay seated which makes the whole thing even easier.
  
  
  You must take it quickly and break it's neck.
  
  
• Deer: Since they can be found almost everywhere and their skin is the most needed ingredient for clothes, they should be your main source of food. (see section Deer hunting)
  
  
• Wolves: Wolves don't give as much meat as deer, but they are easier to kill. The easiest way is when they're eating. You can then get quite close and easily give them a deadly hit. You can craft a very good coat out of their fur. (see section Wolves)
  
  
• Fish: For fishing sessions lasting several days, the following time distribution is recommended: Start fishing at night, cook the fish in the early morning hours when you need the warmth of the fire anyway, and then sleep during the day.
  
  
• Moose: Like the bear, it delivers a ton of meat. From its skin you can make a good coat and the very useful moose hide satchel. The hunt for it should be well prepared, just like for the bear. (For more details, see the section The Moose)
  
  
• Bears: If I were you, I'd stay away from bears, but if you want their fur, there is no way around it. Bears yield 30-40 kg ; 66-88 lbs of meat, which will ensure your survival for a while. Bears are easy to detect, since they breathe very loudly and birds tend to make a lot of noise in their presence.
  
  Try to kill bears close to a shelter with some sort of fireplace. This has two main benefits: If something goes wrong, you have a place to retreat to and if you succeed, you won't have to carry the meat very far.
  We advise to carry a rifle and a flare gun when you're hunting. This has a very simple reason: If the bear attacks you after your shots with the rifle, you can avoid getting ripped apart by firing a flare at him.
  
  It is almost impossible to kill a bear with one shot when you have a low rifle firearm-skill. Even clean headshots might not yield the expected results, so be warned. Your clothes often take irreparable damage when fighting a bear, especially headgear and gloves. A second set of clothes might be a good idea.
  
  If a bear has shredded you:
  Crouch - drop everything that smells - back off at least 50 meters ; 160 feet - immeditately stop the bleeding and move to the next safe location. Use an emergency syringe if available. Go back later to pick up your dropped items.
  
  In any case, DO NOT TRY to kill the bear afterwards! This would most certainly result in your death.

As soon as you kill an animal, you can start to harvest it. (see section Carcasses)

If you are not close to your home, start a fire next to your haul. First of all, you can thaw them that way, secondly it keeps you warm, thirdly it keeps wolves away and fourthly you can cook something for yourself if the evisceration takes longer.

Deer, wolves and bears bleed to death after a certain time when they have been shot and they leave a visible trail of blood. It is therefore quite sufficient to fire a single shot at them. However, it takes some time for the animal to bleed to death. For bears this can take six to eight hours.

Tips for hunting:

• Try to figure out the range of sense of the animals to gauge your chance of sneaking up to them. The range of sense of wolves considerably increases, if you have meat or guts in your inventory.
  
  
• Learn to tell apart how the animals sound, this way you can tell what is lumbering around the next corner without looking.
  
  
• If you can not harvest everything of an animal, leave the fur and the guts. Animals that are not fully harvested will lay there for approx. three days. This gives you plenty of time to come back and get the rest.
  
  
• Since the revolver has only a small range and causes less damage than a rifle or bow, it is only conditionally suitable for hunting. That doesn't mean, of course, that you can't kill the bigger animals with it. A bear bleeds to death after a revolver hit just like usual, but you have to get very close. And for the moose you need a lot of hits.

This section is exclusively about hunting with the bow:

Important: The left mouse button (or whatever is used on console) has to be pressed until the bowstring is fully drawn back! This may sound trivial, but is a common rookie mistake to release it too early.

With version v0.423, the shooting mechanic has been greatly simplified. Now, the bow is aimed like a firearm. Sadly, this reduces the necessary skill to master the bow. Any aiming tips are obsolete now; you can see the targeting mechanic below.




Sometimes I do not understand the people at Hinterland, on one hand they want to make a challenging survival game and on the other they remove well-designed game mechanics without any necessity and replace them with the simplest that they could find.

For hunting, I always carry 6-8 arrows; since I only pick up the spent arrows after the hunt.

Because of parasite problems (only on stalker and interloper difficulty) deer meat is the most important source of food. This is why deer hunting gets an individual section.
If you read the TLD-Forum you will find out that many players have problems with...

• the trail disappearing too soon.
  
• not being able to follow the deer for too long.
  
• missing shots because they have to stand up.
  
• and so on.

There are basically two ways to hunt deer:

You shoot from outside its detection range or you sneak up to it, stand up and immediately shoot. But there is a third way, which only works in certain areas. I will come back to this method later.

Rabbits, wolves, moose and deer have a kind of "home territory". This is the area in which the animal spawns and won't leave until it is provoked. The animal only leaves this area if it is chased or is chasing another animal. It will return once it has calmed down.
Bears do not have such a "home territory". They spawn in front of their cave and have one or more routes to follow.

But back to deer. The most important weapon when hunting is your patience. Especially if you like to hunt from a distance it is important to take the time to get to a good position (i.e. the flank). This will give you a big target. And wait until the deer stops. Your chances of scoring a head shot are very slim if you are shooting from a distance, so aim for the body. A body shot can be as fatal as a head shot.

Don't be mad if you miss and your prey runs away. Hunting is a gamble after all.

If there are more animals close by, target one of those. You can pick up the spent arrows later on, they won't go anywhere. However, if the deer was the only animal in sight, start picking your arrows back up. Maybe you are lucky and the deer comes back by the time you're done.

If you hit, but the wound isn't fatal, the deer will naturally start to flee. You can follow the trail of blood, but not very far. Sometimes the animals run around half the region and it does not make sense to go after them. It's the same if the trail of blood vanishes. Remember, after some time the deer will try to return to his home territory; so go back to the territory and hunt another animal. The next day, go back to the area where you lost the wounded animal and look for it. Your chance of finding the carcass is pretty high, but watch out, since the animal can also die in a ditch or behind some snowdrift. But since v0.426 crows are also circling over the carcass, so it should not be difficult to find.

There is, however, a third way to hunt:
If you prefer short distance shooting, look for areas with an insurmountable obstacle (e.g. a steep rock wall). If you push the animal towards the obstacle it will run up to it and turn around, now running back towards you. If you know its home territory, you can carefully push it towards the edge of it, resulting in the same effect.

After you've reached archery level 5 you are able to shoot while crouching, which makes hunting a cakewalk.

If there is a (and ONLY one) wolf nearby you can of course let him do the work by driving the deer to the wolf and then shooting the wolf.

Because of the text length restriction I have to split into two sections here as well.

Along with the cold, wolves are your main enemy in this game. They always hunt alone and you will only be attacked by one wolf at a time (even though you might percieve otherwise). The other wolves then are in some kind of waiting state.

Every avoided conflict is a win! Because no matter how it ends, you always lose something (condition, ammunition, decoy etc.)

To survive longer, you'll need extensive knowledge of their behaviour.
Because there are now two different types of wolves, I have divided the section into Blackwolf (I call it that) and Timberwolf.

Attention: Decoys currently only have an effect if they are placed at the right time. The whole thing is far too dangerous to use it properly. I don't think it will stay that way, otherwise they could remove them from the game completely.

---

You can see from its movement what the wolf is doing right now:

• walking - normal movement
  
• limping - an injured wolf shortly before his death (don't shoot it again!)
  
• trotting - it has sensed something and is moving towards it
  
• running - it is attacking a target or tries to close in on you

Let's get to the point: The scent detection radius and what I'll refer to as scent points.

The scent radius around the player is determined by the difficulty, the stance of the player, the items in their inventory and the wind direction. As soon as a wolf enters this radius, it will pick up on the scent and move towards the player (but only if it is not currently tracking another scent!).

As soon as you have raw meat, meat bags, guts or fresh hides in your inventory, your scent radius will increase drastically, which you can see by looking at the indicator in the upper middle of your screen.

Scent points are created when you:

• leave a building (an enclosed space) with a scent.
  
• quarter an animal.
  
• pick up items with a scent.
  
• drop a meat bag.

You can see this nicely in the open terrain of the →Coastal Highway. If you leave a building on the coast with a scent and travel down the road, you might be able to see how whole packs of wolves flock to the building and ignore you, even when you're close to them.
However, as soon as they reach the scent point and find nothing, they will be after you; unless you're already far away.

A. Avoid wolves, prevent confrontations:

If you are not giving off a scent, you can sneak closely to wolves while crouched. You should not sneak closer than about ten meters. (this varies depending on the difficulty)
Otherwise, it depends if you are dealing with a single animal or a whole group. A loner can be distracted with a decoy. A group should be avoided.
If a loner tracks you and you are not overencumbered, you can zig zag in between obstacles and/or jump down small ridges to throw it off your scent.
If you have a lot of stuff with you, you will also cause more noise when walking, which will attract wolves at a greater distance.

If you are well rested you can try to outrun it to a safe location. It works like this:

You run a short distance - the wolf runs a short distance to close in on you - you walk a few feet - the wolf trots after you - and back from the start.

With stones you can distract a wolf, with flares or torches you can drive him away if you hit him. I think this is too risky, because the probability of success is too low.

If there are deer or rabbits nearby, you can use them by chasing them in front of you and detect wolves that way.

If you are faced with a whole group of wolves, light a fire immediately. The deterrent effect of the fire works even before it is lit. The fire no longer gives 100% protection, but it usually takes a while before the wolf decides whether to ignore the fire and attack you or to flee. This will give you time to decide how you are going to get rid of them. But as soon as you aim at a wolf he makes this decision immediately.
However, if your 'Fire starting'-skill is still low (<3), it may be better to defend yourself with a firearm.

B. Fighting with firearms:

NO distance attacks if the wolf has already scented you! Wait until the wolf gets close and stops zig- zagging. This should give you a clear shot, even with the bow; which can only be shot while in prone until your archery level is 5. Even if the wolf is not dead, it should die after a short brawl. I know, this tactic requires nerves of steel and the experience of choosing the right time to shoot. Therefore you should practice extensively in Voyageur.
Even with the revolver you can easily achieve deadly hits. But at least the animal is chased away.
At least, however, the animal and all the others in the nearer surroundings flee.
If the wolf hasn't noticed you yet and you have a good shooting position you can of course shoot him from a distance.

C. Fighting with tools:

• Knife: causes stabbing wound and a short bleed out time; the best melee weapon.
  
• Hammer & Prybar: scares off wolves very quickly, but it does not cause bleeding, so the animal don't die.
  
• Hatchet: causes a lot of potentially fatal damage and causes slow bleedout.
  
• Improvised tools: have almost the same effect as the right ones.
  
• Hands: you better hope that you never have to use these; looks a lot like a bear attack.

D. After the fight:

• immediately stop your bleeding
  
• light a fire (a second attack might already be fatal, depending on the difficulty and your condition)
  
• pick up dropped items
  
• disinfect wounds
  
• immediately seek shelter to heal up

E. Traversing wolf groups

Sometimes you'll have to traverse a whole group of wolves (in Stalker this can be up to 7 animals and more), because circumventing them would take too long. If you are in good shape, you have a rifle or a revolver and decoys, you can...

run into the group - as soon as most of the animals have picked up on your scent, you can fire the weapon once close to one of the wolves - this scares them off for a short while - run further - if the first one comes back again, put down a decoy and run again - now (hopefully) you should be in a safe distance.

Along with the cold, wolves are your main enemy in this game. They always hunt alone and you will only be attacked by one wolf at a time (even though you might percieve otherwise). The other wolves then are in some kind of waiting state.

Every avoided conflict is a win! Because no matter how it ends, you always lose something (condition, ammunition, decoy etc.)

To survive longer, you'll need extensive knowledge of their behaviour.
Because there are now two different types of wolves, I have divided the section into Blackwolf (I call it that) and Timberwolf.

---

The Timberwolf always appears in packs of at least 3 animals. Fires are not only useless with him, but also dangerous. Since the animals try to surround you and to stab you in the back there is the danger that you run through your own fire while defending yourself.
Try to get close to a rock, a house wall or any other obstacle to have at least one side covered.

The animals move very fast and are therefore difficult to hit, so use a revolver if possible.

The key is to get rid of them is either ...

A) ... to break their morale as fast as possible:
Very effective is the distress flare (blue), especially if you hit one of the animals with it. This is also the case when you win a melee or take a direct deadly hit with your bow. At the latest when you have killed half of the wolves.

B) ... to at least shoot each of the animals:
They all die after a short time. This has the advantage that you have then a few days of peace and quiet at the respective place.
If during this time their morale is broken it is very hard to kill the rest of the animals because they flee from you. So you have to hit them from a greater distance. This can only be done with rifle or bow and requires some patience and a steady hand, depending on the terrain.

Don't forget to pick up your shell casings after the fight

Timberwolves don't give up so fast if you hide somewhere (in a hut, a car). It takes several hours until they finally disappear.

Currently the flare pistol has no significant effect on Timberwolves.

Moose are very rare, so it can take a while to find one of them. The scratch marks that can be found on trees usually help here.


That doesn't mean there's a moose running around somewhere, it identifies only a spawning area. It can take several days until a moose actually appears. There are of course also zones with too few or no trees at all. Only the luck or the knowledge about it helps then.

Wolves don't attack moose, they run away.

You can sneak up to moose at the same distance than to deer. When they see themselves threatened, they go into a kind of attacking position and scratch with their hooves like a bull. Now, you have a short time to increase the distance to avoid the impending attack.


As with bears, you can't defend yourself against a moose attack. In the end you usually have broken ribs. Since the healing takes a long time and you are considerably handicapped until then, you should absolutely avoid this. (see section Injuries and Afflictions)

Since moose, unlike all other animals, do NOT bleed out, you definitely have to do the complete job. It usually requires several hits, depending on your weapon skill.

This works best close to the thickest tree you can find. Stand next to it and shoot the moose. When it runs at you, circle around the tree. The moose runs past it and you can take the next shot at it. This must be repeated if necessary and requires a good timing.
If you are lucky enough to land a critical hit, you can also kill a moose with a single shot (rifle or bow). But even with a high weapon skill this is rather rare. With the flare pistol you can (as with the bear) prevent the moose from beating you up in an emergency.
If there's one of the trees that protrudes diagonally from the ground, you can kill it pretty safely from there.

Moose provide about 77 lbs ; 35 kg of meat and you can craft the very useful moose hide satchel from their fur. It gives you an 11 lbs ; 5 kg carry weight bonus. You can also make a very good coat out of it, but you should think about this beforehand.
Like all clothes, it is necessary to repair them from time to time or after damage. However, since the moose are so rare, this is quite time-consuming.

And here a small list of places where you can find it:
(There are no moose in the transit regions WR, OIC, RV)

• Mystery Lake: Nameless Pond; River at the dam.
  
• Desolation Point: Bridge at Matt's Truck
  
• Coastal Highway: Quonset Garage
  
• Mountain Town: In the Milton Basin
  
• Broken Railroad: Northeast of the Mainenance Yard (sun is rising in the west here!)
  
• Pleasant Valley: In the birch wood close to the Red Barn; at the Pensive Pond.
  
• Forlorn Muskeg: North of the Mystery Lake entry
  
• Timberwolf Mountain: At the red wing close to the Echo Ravine
  
• Hushed River Valley: At the Monolith Lake
  
• Bleak Inlet: In the Frozen Delta

This list does not claim to be complete and should not be. There are, of course, considerably more places, about 20-25.

There are four different types of ranged weapons in TLD: The rifle, the revolver, the bow and the flare gun.

The hunting rifle is a carbine with a 10-shot magazine: Aim, shoot, reload.
Keep in mind that the sway of the rifle is determined by exhaustion, fatigue and your firearm skill. You should also keep your rifle well maintained, otherwise you might be at risk of your gun jamming.
Guns and ammo are pretty hard to find, but in our travel guide we tell you about good places to find some. Single cartridges are often found next to burned down buildings, in mailboxes(!), in dark corners or below furniture.

The revolver has a 6 round drum and can be fired relatively quickly. However, it has only a short range and does much less damage. It's the preferred weapon against the fast Timber wolves.

It is well suited to drive away attacking animals and the easiest, fastest and best weapon to kill rabbits. There is plenty of ammunition for it.

For the maintenance of these weapons you need a weapon cleaning set.
In section The Workshop you can see how to maintenance your fireweapons with scrap metal and how to craft ammunition

Usage: Aim with the right mouse button, left mouse button to fire. With the revolver you can shoot without aiming.

The bow is a little harder to find than the rifle, but you can build one out of cured maple saplings and cured gut. To craft arrows, you'll need arrowheads. They can be found thoughout the world, but it is better to forge them yourself. (see section Forging) Furthermore you'll need arrow shafts (made from birch saplings) and feathers. Crows are always circling corpses and carcasses, you'll always find feathers there.
Broken arrows can be disassembled, this will yield the arrowhead and a portion of the feathers.
Arrows do have the habit of bouncing off things and landing in the most impossible locations. So don't be surprised if your arrow bounces ten meters away off a rock and gets stuck 4 meters high unreachable in a tree.

Usage: Draw the bow with the left mouse button and release the button to fire the arrow. With the right mouse button you can cancel a shot after you've already drawn the bowstring.

Aiming with the bow takes some practice. The best place is the bullseye at the red barn in →Pleasant valley). The bow does not deal as much damage as the rifle.

Another tip: As soon as you have a bow, you should only use your rifle for bear and moose hunting, especially because it weighs way more compared to the bow.

The corresponding skills influence the effectiveness of these weapons in various ways. (see section Skills and Feats)

The flare gun is currently only found in a few places and has a small supply of ammo. It is great as an support weapon for bear hunting since bears always run away no matter how you hit it.

Another annoyance: Lost arrows!

Sometimes, arrows seem to be lost or are hidden under carcasses. Many of these arrows turn up eventually, because the carcass vanishes or the region is reloaded.

Sometimes the arrow is just slightly below a texture which makes it hard to spot; infuriating, i know. Some of them may reappear in on of the red Lost and Found boxes.

(including sleeping bags)

First, we'll divide clothing into two categories:

A. First of all, we have the pieces of clothing that are found throughout the world; made industrially and mainly made from synthetic or natural fiber. Only shoes and gloves are made from leather. These items can not be crafted, only repaired.

B. Secondly, we have clothing that is made from the hides of slain animals and has to be crafted: deerskin boots, deerskin pants, wolfskin coat, bearskin coat, bearskin sleeping bag, rabbit mittens, rabbitskin hat , moose hide cloak. Additionally there are improvised parts for the head and the hands made of cloth.

The items in category B have a better warmth bonus and protection than comparable items from category A, whereas items from category A are lighter and less restrictive.

Items made from hides, synthetics and wool are rather water resistant, get wet more slowly and dry faster; compared to those of cotton and linen.

When putting together your gear, you should make sure that the stats of your clothing fit your activity. For example, for a deer hunt you will need lightweight, water resistant, unrestrictive clothes, whereas a bear hunt requires a high level of protection. If you venture into unknown territory, you will need a large warmth bonus and a high level of wind protection.

After a while, you will have your favorite sets.

If a piece of clothing is completely soaked, it is about 25% heavier. As soon as that happens, it will start to freeze, which will negate any warmth this item of clothing provides. Clothes dry the fastest when placed next to an oven.

When choosing clothes that have an inner and outer layer, it is important to watch out which layer is outside and which is inside. For example, placing an item with a good water resistance on an inner position is... not really ideal. Naturally, all effects work form the outside to the inside.
This means that the water resistance effect of the inner layer only starts to work after the outer layer is completely soaked. If you swap the two, the same effect will keep the inner piece dry for a long time.

If possible wear items with high resistances (water resistance or protection) on the outside and warm items on the inside. There are no ideal sets of clothing! What you wear depends on what you are doing.

If you are travelling places where you might get wet (e.g. swamps, the shoreline), we would recommend light, non-resrictive clothing, since the water resictance is useless and you have to seek shelter quickly after breaking through the ice. But picking such a set of clothing for a long expedition would be suicide.

You will only face these kind of decisions after you aquire a veritable collection of clothing. If you want to experiment for yourself; just take a bunch of clothing with you and stand outside during a storm, next to a safe place. Then you can test all the different combinations.

You should not pack more than (effective) 10-12 kg ; 22-27 lbs of clothing, since that would restrict you too much. Since v1.16, only 75% of the weight is calculated for worn clothing. This can be confusing as the clothing view always shows the 100% weight, but the inventory shows the effective value.


bottom left:

Combined values of all worn clothes

bottom right:
the corresponding values for the item shown above
(% wetness/ % frozen)

warmth bonus - windchill protection - water resistance - protection - handicap
condition - weight

Condition: The physical condition as before. The properties of the clothing item worsen with lower condition.

Restriction: Some clothes are more restrictive than others. Negative effects are marked red on your stamina bar.

Water resistance: Determines how fast the item gets wet and how fast it dries. Wet items are heavier. The value of the outer clothing item is most important.

Warmth bonus: The warmth bonus is added to the air temperature to calculate the "feels like"-temperature.

Windchill protection: Determines how well the items protects against wind(chill). The windchill protection values are not cumulative! Per bodypart, only the outermost garment counts.

Weight: This varies; wet/frozen clothes are heavier.

Protection: Determines the protection against animal attacks, falls, burns etc. Like windchill protection only the outermost item counts.

In conclusion, your playstyle determines you clothing options. There are two basic player types: some who would like to be light and fast and forgot about the protection. Others like to settle for more protection in exchange for movement/weight restrictions.

Since v1.48 there are now hand and head wraps. They can be made of cloth anywhere. Although they have only low warming values, they help to prevent frostbite if the corresponding garments are irreparably damaged during a fight.

More about clothes you'll find here

Just for the record, this is about venturing out into the unknown, not for travelling in between places you've already explored. Difficulty level Voyageur or Stalker. You won't need many of these things on Pilgrim difficulty and Interloper plays by different rules.

We're gonna aim for a collection of equipment that is close to the carryweight limit (66 lbs). (Since v1.16 there is the moose hide satchel which expands the carryweight limit by 11 lbs and since v1.41 there is a buff (not starving for 3 days) which give you another 11 lbs. This is not taken into account here.)

• fully loaded rifle
  
• normal bedroll
  
• 10 pieces of cloth
  
• fishing tackle
  
• accelerant
  
• firestriker
  
• full lantern
  
• torch
  
• knife
  
• hatchet
  
• 2 litres / 0.5 gal of water
  
• about 17 lbs of clothing
  
• food 3kg / 6.6 lbs, in this case primarily meat
  
• coffee/tea/birch bark (3 times each; uncooked)
  
• 4x bandages
  
• antiseptic
  
• 2x painkillers
  
• 2x antibiotics
  
• emergency stim
  
• 2x recycled can
  
• (perhaps 3-5 sticks and a bit of tinder)

This prepares you for basically any situation, but you can't pick anything up without immediately overencumbering yourself. Well, let's modify this list a little...

• a bow with 8 arrows (or fully loaded revolver + 20 bullets)
  
• normal bedroll
  
• 10 pieces of cloth
  
• fishing tackle
  
• matches (about 20x)
  
• 3x torches
  
• knife
  
• hatchet
  
• 2 litres / 0.5 gal of water
  
• about 17 lbs of clothing
  
• food 1kg / 2.2 lbs, in this case a MRE, along with some snacks and crackers or peanut butter
  
• coffee/tea/birch bark (3 times each; uncooked)
  
• 6x bandages
  
• 2x lichen wound dressing
  
• 2x recycled can
  
• emergency stim
  
• (perhaps 3-5 sticks and a bit of tinder)

This setup weights about 46 lbs and is just as effective as the former.

---

Bedroll:
When it comes to bedrolls, you don't have a choice. The bearskin bedroll is simply too heavy to be carried everywhere. You should stash it at places where you frequently sleep out in the open (including open caves).

Weapons:
The same is true for the rifle. It is also very heavy and should only be brought along if needed (e.g. a bear/moose hunt). If you go to the →Bleak Inlet, be sure to bring a revolver with enough ammo and marine flares (blue). Leave the bow at home if necessary.

Medicine:
An emergency stim should always be on hand. antiseptic can be replaced by a lichen wound dressing.
You don't have to carry antibiotics or reishi mushrooms with you, since food poisoning can be treated later. Intestinal parasites take a couple of days to get rid of anyways. Bandages should always be carried, as they are needed for bleeding wounds and sprains.

Food and water:
Water can be aquired at every fireplace and in most houses, so you won't need more than one or two litres (0.3 - 0.5 gal) .
When it comes to food, you of course will have to make do with what you've got. However, if you have a choice, you can save a lot of weight by relying on the high-energy stuff. In most cases, 2000 kcal (Stalker) or 3000 kcal (Voyageur) will suffice.
The cooking pot is to heavy (2.2 lbs) to be carried around. Two recycled cans should be enough.
Coffee and tea (uncooked) are basically weightless and are very useful in many situations, they should not be left out.

Tools:
A knife is essential, mostly because it is the most lethal weapon in a wolf fight. The hatchet is best at taking apart hard items like wood or frozen carcasses. It can be replaced by the hacksaw, which weighs half a kilogram (one pound) less. With it you can also dismantle any car batteries you may find.

The hacksaw has two downsides:
1. You can not use it to crack open ice fishing holes, this will require a crowbar (2.2 lbs) or you have to use the knife.
2. It wears out much faster and has to be repaired with scrap metal and the toolbox.

When cutting wooden parts you have the alternatives hammer and saw, but you cannot cut a branch with a hammer or a pallet with a saw.

Clothing:
Here, as already mentioned in the section Clothes, your style of playing is decisive and of course what is available to you.

Fuel:
You don't have to carry fuel with you, since they are found almost anywhere. Only the accelerant is really necessary. The 15 sticks needed to build a snow shelter are easily collected. 3-5 sticks are enough to ignite a fire near a branch and give you enough time to take it apart, or in case of a wolf attack to protection. You should definitely pack tinder, as long as you need it (before your firestarting skill reaches level 3)

Light sources:
The lantern is quite heavy (4 lbs), but does not require matches. The only real replacement are flares. Torches burn brighter and longer, but they have to be lit by something and are heavier. Torches and lanterns also grant a small warmth bonus. In conclusion, you can replace the 4 flares with 2 torches and you can get it from every fire.

The rest: cloth, fishing tackle
The 10 pieces of cloth are very important. 5 pieces are required to build a snow shelter, they are needed to repair clothes and more importanly: the sleeping bag, to craft bandages.

If you have to climb a lot, GO Energy drinks are highly recommended, so you can manage the long ropes at once. The emergency stims should not be wasted for this.

Crafting can be separated into several categories. Firstly, there are things that require a workbench to be crafted. These things can not be made in the dark, so you'll either need a light source to craft at night (we don't recommend that, since it wastes too much resources; this excludes stoves and firepits) or confine your crafting activities to the daytime. At night in clear skies and moonlight or while an aurora it is often bright enough.

This category includes:

• Almost all kind of clothing and the bearskin bedroll.
  
• Most parts of the bow and arrows (excluding arrowheads)
  
• Snare traps
  
• Hooks and lines

Crafting can take some time (up to 30 hrs: bear fur coat). You can interrupt this process at any time. The partially finished item will be in your inventory, but it can not be used. This tends to confuse many players.
So: Be aware of the crafting time of the item and decide how you are going to handle it. If you don't want to finish it in one go, leave it at the work bench.

Secondly, there are items that can be crafted on the go:

Torches, bandages, fishing tackle, tinder, lichen wound dressings, the head wrap and the hand wrap, preparation of rose hips, reishi mushrooms and birch bark tea, and outside the snow shelter and the rock cache.

Now the things that require a fireplace:

• Water
  
• Different kinds of tea and coffee
  
• Any kind of meat or cans that should be heated

(see sections Food and Fire)

And lastly the items that require a forge:

Arrowheads and the replacement for knife and hatchet.

For crafting of ammunition see the section The Workshop

Some of the materials that are required for crafting have to be cured inside before they can be used:

Animal hides, guts and saplings

Almost every room with a door counts as inside (Exceptions: see section Miscellaneous), along with caves and mines or the back area of open caves.

Every crafting prozess (except the cooking) take place in this screen. Here is an overview of all things that can be produced. Below at Filter you can select according to the three categories. The required raw materials and tools are displayed on the right.
The only exception is the snow shelter, which is created directly from the radial menu.


On the left side the list can be filtered by Everything, Camp/Fire, First Aid, Clothing and Tools/Weapons.

A main point, if not THE main point, of The Long Dark is to keep your gear in good shape. A hacksaw that breaks at the wrong time, clothes that are reduced to rags or a lantern that kicks the bucket in the middle of a cave, definitely won't help to increase your lifespan.

Important: If the mending process of a clothing item fails, the used materials are lost! This is particularly annoying with the moose or bear skins, which are difficult to obtain.

Our recommendation: If your mending-skill ist below 3 and you have enough material to craft a new piece of clothing, make a new one and keep the old one for a repair later on. Of course this only concerns fur clothing, since normal clothes can not be crafted.

If you possess several clothing items of the same type, you'll have to decide if it is not better to destroy one to repair the other. This is especially true if it is in very rough shape; a repair is not feasible then.

Bedrolls are a special case. I would never take apart a bedroll. I always repair them and place them at vital spots on the several maps. (e.g. the →Dam, the cellar at the →Old Island Connector, in a cave at the →Ravine, the Y-Cave at →Timberwolf Mountain etc.) If done correctly, after some time you can stop carrying a bedroll with you at all.

Since normal sleeping bags can not be crafted, you should pay extra attention to them. If a bedroll is on the ground, you can not see how badly it is worn out. You can sleep in a 0%-bedroll, but it will be lost after you pick it up! The texture changes with the state of the bedroll, but it doesn't spare you to take it and check it.

Thusly: Check the condition of your placed sleeping bags. It is best to leave some cloth along with your bedroll. Even without use the normal sleeping bag decay with 1% / 5 days, the bearskin bedroll with 1% / 3.5 days.


Here is a list of things that can be repaired (along with the required items):

• the hatchet (whetstone)~ (or milling machine)
  
• the knife (whetstone)~ (or milling machine)
  
• the hacksaw (toolbox) (or milling machine)
  
• the can opener (-)
  
• the hammer (toolbox)
  
• the lantern (toolbox)
  
• the cooking pot (toolbox)
  
• the rifle (rifle cleaning kit)~ (or milling machine)
  
• the revolver (rifle cleaning kit)~ (or milling machine)
  
• any clothing (sewing kit or fishing tackle)
  
• sleeping bag (-)
  
• bearskin bedroll (sewing kit or fishing tackle)
  
• snow shelter (-)~

~ can be done in the dark, the other items require a light source.

If you have to repair firearms or tools with blades without a whetstone or rifle cleaning kit take a look at section The Workshop


Needed for this are the following materials: scrap, cloth, wood, animal hides, guts.


These things should be available in your base.

As of now, the following things can not be repaired:

• fishing tackle
  
• crowbar
  
• magnifying glass (lasts forever anyway)
  
• bow
  
• arrows
  
• snare traps
  
• flare gun (not needed)
  
• jerry can (not needed)

Magnifying glass, jerry can, flare gun, revolver and bow can not be disassembled.

The decay of all things begins at the start of a game. There are many things that do not decay at all, for example, tools and weapons only degrade with continued use.
The strongest decay is of course found in food items, followed by clothing items.
This means that after hundred of days there are barely any useful items of these kind left.
This also means that you should switch regions as soon as you've got the chance.
It could be very disappointing if you venture to →Timberwolf Mountain after let's say... 300 days, just to realize that most of the items in the containers have become useless.

The amount of things to be found depends on the the level of difficulty. This information only is to get a rough notion of what items may be important.

What should i look out for and what is rather secondary?

There are only few things in this game that can be wasted, since they are endlessly available. This includes (Of course, this does not apply to Interloper) :

• your prey (food, pelts, guts)
  
• wood, tinder and birch bark (fire, crafting)
  
• coal (fire, crafting)
  
• charcoal (mapping)
  
• feathers (arrow crafting)
  
• snow (water)
  
• birch bark (birch bark tea)
  
• conditionally ~ lamp oil (lantern, torches)
  
• stones (rock caches)

Everything else is limited, even though some items are so readily available that you will not have to pay much attention if you are wasting some of it. This includes:

• cloth - can be extracted from basically any item in the game that is made of cloth
  
• scrap metal - as long as you have a saw, you can take apart most things made out of metal to gain scrap metal. Toolboxes can be reduced to metal without a saw.
  
• reclaimed wood - most pieces of furniture and all crates and palettes can be taken apart.
  
• flares are basically found under every second couch.
  
• recycled cans - with every canned food you consume you will get one.
  
• matches - these don't decay anymore, which means they are not critical resources anymore.

And now for the rare items:

• flare gun with ammo
  
• water purification pills
  
• fuel canisters
  
• firestrikers
  
• hunting rifle
  
• revolver
  
• magnifying glasses (doesn't matter since they don't degrade)
  
• emergency stims and energy drink
  
• flashlight
  
• cooking pots
  
• whetstones
  
• shell casings
  
• marine flares (blue)
  
• stump remover
  
• fertilizer

In fact, however, ALL things decay over time. But the corresponding time measure for a complete decay is so big that you hardly notice it in a normal game (playing time < 2 years). There are things (e.g. bullets) where this time span is 1500 days or more. That means: If you put such an object with 100% in a cupboard then it has after two years still approx. 50%.

If you want to craft hatchets, knives or arrowheads yourself, you'll have to use the forge.


It is found at the wreckage of the Riken at →Desolation Point. More forges can be found at →Forlorn Muskeg and →Broken Railroad. The furnace in the workshop at the →Bleak Inlet can only be used to melt the lead plates from the batteries, for whatever reason.

To reach the necessary temperature (150°C / 302°F) for the forging process you'll need coal (about 6-8 pieces) and scrap metal as raw material.


Coal can be found in mines and scrap metal is gained by taking apart metal objects with your hacksaw.

The most important tool when forging is the hammer, always remember to bring one! You should also leave a hacksaw and a hammer at the forge, so you won't have to bring one next time.


If you have a base in →Pleasant Valley or even →Timberwolf Mountain, we recommend that you bring enough scrap and fuel to forge about 30-50 arrowheads. Otherwise, you always have to go halfway around the world, just for a few arrowheads.

The workshop is located at the cannery in the region →Bleak Inlet.

Since the way to the workshop always leads around the entire factory and is therefore quite annoying, you should make sure that you have as much of the materials you need ready as possible before you enter the workshop.
You should also have at least reached Gunsmithing Level 2 using books. Be sure you have found the code for the panel in the radio control hut in the upper area, otherwise you won't be able to get in.
The heavy car batteries should be dismantled directly where you find 'em. The lead scrap you get weighs only a fraction of it.
While you are waiting for an Aurora in front of the door you can read books and boil water which will give you additional charcoal.

You should definitely bring this over here:

• a hacksaw and a sleeping bag
  
• shell casings for rifle and revolver cartridges
  
• the components for the gun powder: fertilizer, stump remover and charcoal (not mandatory, it can also be extracted from the furnace indoors)
  
• lead scrap to craft the bullets
  
• scrap metal to repair weapons and tools (there is scrap inside, but very little)
  
• And of course all the tools and weapons you want to repair.
  
• food for 2-3 days is not bad either

As soon as the Aurora begins:
Open the door and bring everything you have prepared into the small anteroom, the next door leads to the workshop and always works.

When the time comes, take a weapon in your hand. There may be an unpleasant surprise lurking inside.

When you get to the workshop, the Aurora will still last. So the first thing you should use is the milling machine, it's the only thing in here that needs the Aurora.
On the milling machine you can sharpen your tools and repair your firearms. All you need is scrap metal.

Then light a fire in the forge (left side under the ammunition workbench).
Here you can make bullets from the lead scrap you have brought with you.
(make as much as possible, this process will increase your Gunsmithing Skill)

Now mix the black powder at the ammunition workbench (right side).

Now you can make ammunition from shells, bullets and black powder.
(Do not make ammo if your Gunsmithing skill is below level 3. The inferior ammo that comes out can only be used for rabbit hunting. The danger of duds is simply too high).

You can leave the workshop at any time, the outer door can also be opened from the inside without an Aurora. It remains open even if you change regions. But there is no guarantee that it will stay that way.

Climbing is especially relevant on →Timberwolf Mountain and →Hushed River Valley. In this regions are several steep cliffs that can only be scaled with climbing ropes.
Climbing is only possible if you are not overloaded!

Since climbing requires a lot of strength, you'll quickly experience a lot of fatigue. This can lead to sliding down or even falling off the rope. You can easily underestimate the required strength, since you'll ascend quickly in the beginning and slow down more and more as your stamina depletes.
Thusly, you should pay attention to a few things.


Naturally, you'll need more strength proportionally to the gear you carry. With stamina below 50%, any climb is quite risky. Try to not finish the whole climb at once, especially on long climbs. (unless you want to waste an emergency stim or an energy drink)
Basically any cliff has a small ledge that can be used to take a short break. To do that, you have to stop climbing at the height of the ledge, turn around and click on the ledge.

There is a simple rule for climbing up:
If your endurance has halved, you should have made 2/3 of the distance, otherwise you can't reach the top without a break.


Since resting takes a little time, you can start a fire or, if the weather is nice, take a one hour nap. (provided you have a sleeping bag with you)

A cup of coffee before climbing is also very helpful.
The radial menu and the hotkeys are not usable during climbing.
The stamina restriction of clothing is not relevant when climbing.


Climbing on these overgrown rock faces, however, is always possible and does not cost any endurance.

(Excerpt from the Wikipedia, partially shortened)

An aurora, sometimes referred to as a polar lights or northern lights, is a natural light display in the sky, predominantly seen in the high latitude (Arctic 'Aurora Borealis' and Antarctic 'Aurora Australis') regions.
Auroras are produced when the magnetosphere is sufficiently disturbed by the solar wind that the trajectories of charged particles in both solar wind and magnetospheric plasma, mainly in the form of electrons and protons, precipitate them into the upper atmosphere, where their energy is lost.
The resulting ionization and excitation of atmospheric constituents emits light of varying color and complexity.

(End of excerpt)

The Aurora occurs irregularly and often lasts all night. Electrical devices then are working partially again. Wolves and bears are in a more aggressive state and are glowing in a greenish light.
The otherwise useless flashlight recharges its batteries and can be used as resource-conserving light source and as defense against the animals.


With the 'High Power Mode' (right mouse button) you can deter attacking wolves and bears.

For this, you must illuminate the animals permanently in this mode. Walk slowly backwards while doing this. The brave also forward. After a short time the animals flew. But this works ONLY with the Aurora animals! And with Timberwolves this is of course useless.
Pay attention to the charging state of the lamp!
Unfortunately the lamp loses its charge completely as soon as the Aurora ends.
The light cones caused by the path lighting are safe zones, they are not entered by the animals.

One of the pleasant side effects of the Aurora is that often actions can be carried out that are actually only possible during the day or with lighting, even inside buildings.

Broken power lines are very dangerous during the Aurora. Touching them causes severe burns.

So never sleep, wait or perform any other time-consuming activity at such a place! This applies especially to the dam.

If you absolutely have to pass one of these places during the Aurora then run!

Since v0.346 the Long Dark features a new skill system. The skills carcass harvesting, cooking, fire starting, ice fishing, rifle firearm, revolver firearm, archery, gunsmithing and mending have been implemented so far. The other skills (sharpening, repairing) appear as before only as a fade-in at the top.


Some values are not specified in the game. They are estimated.

Skills

• Carcass harvesting
  
  • Level 1:
    none
    
    
  • Level 2:
    harvesting meat (estimated) 15% faster
    
    
  • Level 3:
    harvesting meat 25% faster
    harvesting skin and guts 10% faster
    50% of frozen carcasses can be harvested by hand
    
    
  • Level 4:
    harvesting meat 30% faster
    harvesting skin and guts 20% faster
    75% of frozen carcasses can be harvested by hand
    
    
  • Level 5:
    harvesting meat 50% faster
    harvesting skin and guts 30% faster
    100% of frozen carcasses can be harvested by hand
  
  
• Cooking
  
  • Level 1:
    none
    
    
  • Level 2:
    10% calorie bonus on cooked meals
    
    
  • Level 3:
    15% calorie bonus on cooked meals
    no calorie loss when breaking open cans
    cooking time reduced by 10%
    
    
  • Level 4:
    20% calorie bonus on cooked meals
    no calorie loss when breaking open cans
    cooking time reduced by 20%
    
    
  • Level 5:
    25% calorie bonus on cooked meals
    no calorie loss when breaking open cans
    cooking time reduced by 30%
    you can not get food poisoning or contract parasites from food anymore
    (does not apply to unheated canned food and raw meat)
  
  
• Fire Starting
  
  • Level 1:
    40% starting chance
    
    
  • Level 2:
    55% starting chance
    fires last 10% longer
    
    
  • Level 3:
    65% starting chance
    fires last 10% longer
    fires can be started without tinder
    
    
  • Level 4:
    75% starting chance
    fires last 25% longer
    fires can be started without tinder
    
    
  • Level 5:
    90% starting chance
    fires last 50% longer
    starting fires is 50% faster
    fires can be started without tinder
  
  
• Ice fishing
  
  • Level 1:
    12% chance of breaking the fishing tackle
    
    
  • Level 2:
    8% chance of breaking the fishing tackle
    
    
  • Level 3:
    5% chance of breaking the fishing tackle
    +10% catch probability
    
    
  • Level 4:
    3% chance of breaking the fishing tackle
    +20% catch probability
    the fish weighs on average 10% more
    
    
  • Level 5:
    1% chance of breaking the fishing tackle
    30% catch probability
    the fish weighs on average 10% more
  
  
• Rifle - firearm
  
  • Level 1:
    +1% condition per repair (cleaning)
    
    
  • Level 2:
    +2% condition per repair
    +10% critical hit chance
    
    
  • Level 3:
    3% condition per repair
    +20% critical hit chance
    +20% shooting range
    
    
  • Level 4:
    4% condition per repair
    +20% critical hit chance
    +30% shooting range
    +10% damage
    
    
  • Level 5:
    5% condition per repair
    +30% critical hit chance
    +40% shooting range
    +20% damage
    50% less wear and tear
  
  
• Revolver - firearm
  
  • Level 1:
    1% condition per repair (cleaning)
    
    
  • Level 2:
    2% condition per repair
    +25% recoil compensation
    
    
  • Level 3:
    3% condition per repair
    +35% recoil compensation
    +10% struggle effectiveness
    
    
  • Level 4:
    4% condition per repair
    +50% recoil compensation
    +20% struggle effectiveness
    aim assist: minor
    
    
  • Level 5:
    5% condition per repair
    +70% recoil compensation
    +30% struggle effectiveness
    aim assist: moderate
    -50% condition degradation per shot
  
  
• Archery
  
  • Level 1:
    none
    
    
  • Level 2:
    -25% sway of the bow
    +10% damage
    
    
  • Level 3:
    -50% sway of the bow
    +10% damage
    +15% critical hit chance
    
    
  • Level 4:
    -75% sway of the bow
    +10% damage
    -25% bleeding out time
    -50% wear and tear
    +25% critical hit chance
    
    
  • Level 5:
    -75% sway of the bow
    +25% damage
    -50% bleeding out time
    -50% wear and tear
    +50% critical hit chance
    can be shot while crouched!
  
  
• Mending
  
  • Level 1:
    50% chance of success
    
    
  • Level 2:
    65% chance of success
    -10% repair time
    
    
  • Level 3:
    75% chance of success
    -15% repair time
    +10% condition improvement per repair
    
    
  • Level 4:
    85% chance of success
    -25% repair time
    +15% condition improvement per repair
    -25% wear and tear of sewing kit/fishing tackle
    
    
  • Level 5:
    100% chance of success
    -50% repair time
    +25% condition improvement per repair
    -35% wear and tear of sewing kit/fishing tackle
  
  
• Gunsmithing
  
  • Level 1:
    Crafted ammunition condition is 20%
    50% chance of component harvesting
    
    
  • Level 2:
    Crafted ammunition condition is 40%
    60% chance of component harvesting
    
    
  • Level 3:
    Crafted ammunition condition is 60%
    70% chance of component harvesting
    
    
  • Level 4:
    Crafted ammunition condition is 80%
    80% chance of component harvesting
    
    
  • Level 5:
    Crafted ammunition condition is 100%
    100% chance of component harvesting

The more you perform a task, the more you gain experience in the associated skill. It is important to note that this is linked to your current character, i.e. your current save.
(see also the next section)

Most of the skills mentioned above can be improved with books. If you find these books you can read for a few hours and gain a small amount of experience. This works multiple times, so if you find another copy of the same book, you can gain the same experience.

Book:Skill

• Wilderness kitchen: Cooking
  
• Frontier shooting guide: Rifle firearm
  
• Field dressing your kill - Vol 1: Carcass harvesting
  
• The frozen angler: Ice fishing
  
• Survive the outdoors: Fire starting
  
• Stay on target: Archery
  
• Sewing Primer: Mending
  
• Small arms handbook: Revolver firearm
  
• Practical Gunsmithing: Gunsmithing

There is also an advanced skill book 'Guns,Guns,Guns' (for the rifle firearm skill).
Currently it's the only one.

Additional to the survival skills with v0.346 feats/badges were added. They basically work like achievements that enable you to unlock permanent bonuses for future sandbox characters.

Note: No progress can be made in a user-defined difficulty level!

Badge: feat -> bonus

• Book Smarts: Complete 250 hours of research -> 10% additional XP gained from books
  
  
• Cold Fusion: Spend more than 100 days outside -> Permanent +2°C / +4°F bonus to the air temperature
  
  
• Efficient Machine: Survive 500 days -> Burning 10% fewer calories
  
  
• Fire Master: Successfully start 1000 fires -> Begin with a fire starting skill of 3
  (only outdoor fires are counting!)
  
  
• Free Runner: Sprint 50 kilometers / 31.1 miles -> Sprinting burns 25% less calories
  
  
• Snow Walker: Travel 1000 kilometers / 621.4 miles -> Your stamina recharges 20% faster
  
  
• Blizzard Walker: You've spent 20 days outdoors during blizzards -> 25% less speed reduce for walking in the wind
  
  
• Expert Trapper: Snared 100 Rabbits -> Snares are 100% more effective
  
  
• Straight to the Heart: Used 250 coffee, energydrinks or stims -> Effects lasts 25% longer

You should only try these if you are somewhat familar with the game, otherwise it will end up being frustrating instead of fun.

• Hopeless Rescue: Get the flare gun from the plane on →Timberwolf Mountain and use it at the top of the Lighthouse in →Desolation Point. You have 7 days.
  
  The biggest problem here is the cold. Clothing, coffee, lantern, fuel, sleeping bags and a firestarting kit should be your highest priority. To achieve a good time, you will have to travel at night. You should postpone sleep until it is absolutely necessary and only sleep 2-3 hours. Weapons are not necessary for a skilled player, so don't waste time looking for a bow or a rifle.
  
  
• Hunted, part 1: The old bear is after you! Reach the Trapper's homestead and kill it with the bear gun you find there.
  
  You start at Skeeter's ridge during a bear attack. Enter the basement immediately!
  
  Well, you can not kill him, you just have to make it to the homestead. Just a little tip: If you are leaving a building and you already see that badass, forget about it. Reenter the building, wait for a bit and leave again (preferrably through another exit). With a bit of luck he's gone and you can continue.
  
  
• Hunted, part 2: Now you are the hunter. Pursue the old bear to his hideout and kill him.
  
  You can only start this challenge after finishing part one. As with the first, your biggest problem here is the cold and the clothes you find are not very good. But, if you want to achieve a good time, you will have to make ends meet. The bear will leave a very discernable track.
  
  
• Hunted, part 3: Will come, inevitable.
  
  
• Whiteout: Gather the things from the list in the journal and bring them to the Quonset gas station.
  Your calendar will display the days that bear a chance for a blizzard and its strength.
  
  
  
• Nomad: Survive for 3 days each at 15 different locations. This means that you have to spend 72 hours inside each building. The order in which you do this is irrelevant. As of now, it is so easy, its just boring.
  Some people make the argument that it is a good way for newbies to get to know the regions, but I think that is nonsense. How should a new player know where the Abandoned store or the Mountaineer's hut is, if he does not know to which region they belong or how to get there.
  
  
• Archivist: Scour Great Bear to collect the last memories contained in several Aurora-animated computers. This can be enormously time-consuming and then also boring, since it occurs in some places rather rarely (e.g. on →Timberwolf Mountain).
  
  
• As the Dead sleep: The most difficult of all challenges. You should definitely know all the regions and have some experience in the Interloper difficulty level.
  You have to find five graves in regions far away from each other.

You can now pick up charcoal from any fireplace or campfire. One piece per hour burning time.

With that, you can draw your surroundings anywhere outside. However, this only works during the day and with good visibility. The size of the uncovered area depends on the height you are at.

On the map, you can zoom in or out with the mouse wheel.

Spray cans can be used to place markers on almost anything, but not all of them will be shown on the map. The caches that can be created outside with 50 stones appear on the map to.


There are now polaroids of viewpoints to be found where you can uncover large parts of the map at once.

If you are confused by sun movement or the region maps, then have a look in the Travel Guide into the section Navigation.

In the Travel Guide you'll find maps of the individual regions. They are based on the great topographic maps of Delta.

Here are only very short descriptions of the individual regions. A detailed description can be found in the Travel Guide.

Region name (Commonly used shortcut)

Mystery Lake (ML)

→Mystery Lake is divided into two sections by a railway line. Here you will find a bunker at one of nine possible positions.

In the southwest section of the map there is the eponymous lake, with several buidings and fishing huts.
In the larger northern/eastern section, you'll find a few scattered logging trailers, a nameless pond and the Trapper's Cabin. This area is very dangerous during bad weather, because the terrain is very hard to navigate. The only real orientations are the pond, which is fed by a stream that points south-east (in the direction of the dam) and a watch tower on a hill.

WARNING:
If you want to leave the →Carter Hydro Dam through the door to the Winding River, keep in mind that this is an emergency exit, meaning it can only be opened one way. There is however a way back in, but you have to find it first.

Forlorn Muskeg (FM)

This region consists of a large basin that is divided by the Raven Falls Railway Line. It is made up of countless frozen ponds, many of them covered with fragile ice. If you are new to this game: Stay clear of this region!

Broken Railroad (BR)

A rather small region in which the railway line continues west to a canyon.

Pleasant Valley (PV)

The →Pleasant Valley is the biggest region in the game and consists of a wide, open basin that is permeated by a branching system of rivers.

Two bunkers/prepper caches can be found here. One is located at one of nine possible spawns, the other one is fixed at the connection to →Timberwolf Mountain.

There is a rural road going through the entire region, which (combined with the rivers) makes it easier to navigate. In the western section of the map there is a very recognizable radio tower and a small pond, which is the only way to go fishing in this region.

At the red barn you will find a target where you can work on your aim with the bow.

Coastal Highway (CH)

The →Coastal Highway is a large bay with two islands, which is seamed by the eponymous road.
Although the bay is littered with fishing huts, be careful! If you are hit by fog or a blizzard unexpectedly, may god have mercy on your soul. Your only way out: hands off the mouse and walk until either a point of orientation or the fragile ice in the south turns up.

Desolation Point (DP)

As of now, the only way to get here is via:
→Coastal Highway →Old Island Connector →Coal Mine No.3

There are a few things that are unique to the game, including:
A lighthouse and a shipwreck, which contains a forge.

The destroyed bridge to the north can not be passed, it is pointless to try.

Timberwolf Mountain (TM or TWM)

The only way to get here is through the →Pleasant Valley.

→Timberwolf Mountain consists of the mountain region around the crash site of a plane. The only real base is the Mountaineer's Hut at Crystal Lake. The are no other buildings here! The whole region is littered with freight containers from the plane. So there is a ton of loot to find.

A word of WARNING: If you are not familar with this region, do yourself a favor and don't mess with the ropes. There is the risk that you completely cut yourself off from certain regions. This is especially true for the rope that brought you here from →Pleasant Valley. You will find some ropes anyway.

The western edge of the map consists of the river that feeds the lake and is a good way to orient yourself. Apart from that there is also wreckage from the plane strewn about, which also helps with navigation.

The main quest is getting to the top of the mountain, where the tail of the plane is located and afterwards making your way back down. However, with the aid of a well placed rope this long journey can be shortened a lot.

Ravine (RV)
Actually it is called →Raven Falls Railway Line, but no one calls it that, so lets stick with... just Ravine. It is one of the transit regions and forms the connection between →Mystery Lake and →Coastal Highway as well as the connection to the upper part of →Bleak Inlet.

It is the only open zone without wolves or bears and is safe in that regard.

A dangerous area (at least at first) is the Raven Falls Trestle.

Old Island Connector (OIC or CRH)

The →Old Island Connector is a transit region just like →Carter Hydro Dam and the →Ravine, rather small with little to discover. Next to the buildings, there is a basement entrance that is very easy to miss. That's the only safe space to sleep in this region.

Carter Dam & Environs (WR)
The →Carter Dam & Environs form a transit region, i.e. a smaller, more tubular region that is connecting the larger regions of TLD. The river leads more or less directly to a cave that is connected to the →Pleasant Valley.

Mountain Town (MT)

The fully accessible version of the region around the city of Milton from the storymode.

Hushed River Valley (HRV)

The climbing paradise north of Milton. So far the most beautiful of all regions, besides the →Forlorn Muskeg the most dangerous. There are no buildings and when the sun is not visible, orientation is extremely difficult.

Bleak Inlet (BI)

A coastal region near a derelict fish cannery. Here are Timberwolf packs, so be prepared. It is divided into two parts at the beginning, until they are connected with a rope. So far there is an ammunition workbench and a milling machine only here.

Here are a few miscellaneous tips that we could not fit anywhere else.

• Rooms that are outside (no loading screen, no drying), but behave like inside in terms of other properties (e.g. cabin fever).
  
  
  • →Forlorn Muskeg: Old Spence Family Homestead, Poacher's Camp
    
  • →Timberwolf Mountain: Mountaineer's Hut (drying possible)
    
  • →Mountain Town: Barn at the Paradise Meadows Farm
    
  • →Broken Railroad: Mainenance shed anteroom
    
  • →Desolation Point: Church
    
  • →All porches
  
  
• Have you always wanted to have the lantern, the torch or the flare out of your sight? Then simply drag a branch, a stone or another light item (right click).
  
  
• Since v1.64: Burnt out campfires and destroyed snowshelters can be dismantled
  
  
• Once you have reached 'Cooking' level 5, you can boil up spoiled meat or canned food from 0% to 50% condition. You can then no longer get food poisoning. This means that these things can be stored practically endlessly (not in containers, otherwise they disappear!). However, I think this is a bad mistake which should be corrected urgently.
  
  
• The condition of the GO-Energydrink has no influence on its effectiveness! A 0% drink can therefore be used normally.
  
  
• Do not sleep with wet clothes in vehicles or in a snow shelter. If unavoidable, only sleep at short intervals.
  
  
• If your hacksaw breaks whilst opening a freight container, or the prybar while you are opening a locker, the respective container is not accessible anymore. Anything that may be inside, is lost forever.
  
  
• Crows are always circling corpses or carcasses, take a look at those spots. At the very least you'll find some feathers.This is also true for those who circle over a cadaver when they slowly disappear to the top.
  
  
• Always search buildings with a lightsource. You can easily miss things in dark corners or under furniture. (especially small items like ammunition or matches) Even broken down crates might harbour unexpected contents. (this is rather rare)
  
  
• Don't forget to pick up your sleeping bag after you are done resting! This may sound trivial, but I have left mine countless times. The same is true for the snow shelter.
  
  
• The freight containers on Timberwolf Mountain always have two compartments that can be sawed open.
  
  
• Don't try to hide from a wolf under one of the jetties. If the wolf is on the jetty directly above you, you will be teleported on top into a wolf struggle. I've reported that bug back in 2015 and thought it would be fixed by now, but sadly that's not the case.
  
  
• Crows that fly straight through a region are a telltale sign of a weather change; in most cases for the worst.
  
  
• If you get stuck mechanically (Map error, deadlock) and can't get loose, NEVER try to sleep or wait! Your last save would be overwritten with this position. Exit the game by pressing ESC, that allows you to continue from your last savepoint.
  
  
• There are some wolf-infested places where you might like some peace and quiet, namely the Quonset Garage on the →Coastal Highway.
  If you need some rest, you can use this trick:
  If an animal is completely harvested, the carcass usually disappears until the next day. The corresponding animal can also respawn afterwards. However, if you only harvest a part or none of it, the carcass stays several days and there is no respawn.
  So, concerning the Quonset Garage: Kill all wolves (or, if you're feeling lucky, even the bear) that are roaming the area and don't harvest them fully. This should give you enough time to search all buildings and vehicles and even carry away your loot.
  
  
• If a fight is about to happen, you can take off all the clothes before. Then it does not take any damage and don't get wet. This is, of course, somewhat risky. But if what you wear is all you have, thats worth considering. However, you lose the mechanical protection. This is also enormously helpful when crossing waterfalls.
  
  
• Sometimes arrows seems to vanish. Don't worry, most of them reappear. Either if the carcass is going or when the region is reloaded. When i'm outside i often find arrows that i had already written of.

A lot of the achievements were bugged for a long time or still they are. And honestly, I have no idea if they are all working properly now. I can not test this, since I have all of them. But I'll still try to give you some relevant information.

None of the achievements is triggered if you play offline!

Name of the achievement: Description
My two cents on that. ;-)

Faithful Cartographer: Map all named locations in Survival Mode.
A description of the nessesary markings you can find here . Our List of Places[www.dropbox.com] also contains corresponding information. A list of all needed places can now be found in the diary. If
it's a building (with interior zone): Don't forget to enter it at least once!

Happy Harvester: Harvest 25 of each plant in one game.
That is misleading, it means 25 harvesting operations, not plants.

Beneath a starry sky: Spend three consecutive nights out in the open.
This is another thing that works for some people and not for others. Anyways. Prep for four nights. Look for a safe place (e.g. the mine exit at Coastal Highway or the Y-Cave at Timberwolf Mountain) It mainly has to be protected from wind and free of enemies. Get enough firewood to last through storms, place a snow shelter and sleep the nights away. To be on the safe side, stay in the same region. Just be under the blue sky, even during the day.

Pacifist: Survive the first 25 days, without killing anything.
Yes, fishing counts as killing too. It is sad that I even have to mention it. But I disgress: The only exeption to that rule is: If a wolf attacks you and you didn't attack him at first and he dies after the typical struggle, you're clear.

Living off the land: Survive 25 consecutive days by only consuming calories of wild plants and animals.
This means that everything produced by civilization is off limits. If you find a fish in a microwave, be careful and if you don't immediately need it, let it be. Only eat what you have hunted yourself and the cattail stalks.
And just to be clear: Coffee and tea have a nutritional value in this game, which is absurd considering there is no sugar to be found anywhere. Just don't. Reshi, rose hip and birch bark tea on the other hand, can be safely consumed.

Exploration Game: Visit every interior on Mystery Lake and the Coastal Highway.
Every interior means: Anything that has a loading screen, except the transit zones to other regions. The fishing huts and vehicles don't count. You should also make sure that every room is visited in one version of TLD.
If one of the rooms is redesigned by the developers, the counter might get reset.

This is a very personal wishlist to Hinterland:

• Craftable clothes for the head (done)
  
• Ability to remove destroyed snow shelters (done)
  
• The Hunted, Part 3
  
• extended skills for all actions: e.g. sharpening, repairing, crafting
  
• extended skill books for all skills
  
• Machines working while an aurora (done)
  
• The flashlight should keep its charge at the end of the aurora
  
• Ladders (maybe craftable)
  
• Outside: Craftable simple storage box (done)
  
• Interactive maps: to draw our own markers and text (done)
  
• Decrease the quartering times by at least 50% and the weight of the meat bags by 25%.
  
• Shorter less tedious mouse movement to select and execute item related actions. So we don't have to select the action on the top left and then move across the whole screen to execute it on the lower right.
  
• Fix the sun movement at the correponding regions (currently BR, ML, PV, WR)

Improvement of the brachial errors in the German translation:

• Ledge (while climbing) Band -> Vorsprung, Absatz
  
• Chest (body) Truhe -> Brustkorb
  
• Engine (plane) Motor -> Triebwerk
  
• Trailer (immobile) Wohnwagen -> Baracke or Wohncontainer
  
• Locomotive Engine (train) Lokomotivenmotor -> Lokomotive or Lok
  
• Cat Tail (plant) Rohrkolbenpflanze -> Rohrkolben or Schilf

Performance:

The game is very CPU consuming while 'outside', 'inside', on the other hand, it needs more GPU-Power.

Start parameters:
In the folder ...\Steam\SteamApps\Common\TheLongDark\ ... are batch files to start the game as 'seamless window' and/or to choose the render path (DX9 or DX11).
But it's easier to start the game directly with the needed parameters.
Right click at TLD in your library. At 'properties - start options' you can enter them.

• -popupwindow (for a seamless window)
  
• -force-d3d11 (for DX11)
  
• -force-d3d9 (for DX9)
  
• -force-d3d12 (for DX12; this is not documented by Hinterland, I don't know if the game has such a render path)
  
• -force-glcore (for OpenGL)
  
• -screen-width -screen-height (for unusual screen resolutions)

For multi monitor setups:

If you are gaming with 3 monitors and the center one has an aspect ration smaller than 1.78 (=16:9) for example 1920x1200 (16:10 = 1.6) the parameter -center-monitor-aspect-ratio will help.

Example setup:
Left and right monitor 1920x1080 ; center monitor 1920x1200

-popupwindow -screen-width 5760 -screen-height 1080 -center-monitor-aspect-ratio 1.6

For AutoWalk functionality have a look here.

The save system:

Important!

Any item you drop somewhere remains in the region, none of it disappears by itself. That means it has to be saved and reloaded. This can lead to very unpleasant lags and other problems. So don't always throw your garbage (e.g. unneeded tinder) carelessly outside, but put it in a container, ideally in a house or a cave. If you stock up bigger supplies of water or firewood, store it in a container and not in a pile on the ground.

The game is saving if you enter an internal zone (house, cave, mine) but NOT if you leave an internal zone! It saves if you are awakening and after waiting. As well it saves if you are harmed in some way e.g. thirst, starve, bleed, freeze, exhaust or another life threatening condition and when fighting with an animal.

Since this game have permadeath what is definitly nessesary for a survival or horror survival game, your save will be deleted if you die. The only exception is the story mode.

Save games are located in the folder:
c:\user\[UserName]\appdata\local\hinterland\thelongdark\

The game settings, badges and other not save game related data is stored in the files

A) c:\user\[UserName]\appdata\local\hinterland\thelongdarknosync\user001.cfg

and

B) c:\user\[UserName]\appdata\local\hinterland\thelongdark\user001 (without extension).

A is a copy of B that is only updated when the game settings are changed.
B, on the other hand, is saved every time you play and is stored in the cloud when activated.

If you have to reinstall the game save file B! Don't trust the cloud. If it's lost you have to start from scratch with your badges.

Currently a save game is made of a few files ( N is a number ).
For survival mode: sandboxN
For challenges: challengeN
For story mode: storyN and checkpointN, as well as the automatically time-based saves autosave1 - autosave3.

The Debug Log is saved in
C:\Users\(Username)\AppData\LocalLow\Hinterland\TheLongDark\output_log.txt

To refer to these places in scripts use:
%Userprofile%\AppData\LocalLow\Hinterland\TheLongDark\
e.g.
%Userprofile%\AppData\Local\Hinterland\TheLongDark\

For example:
Xcopy %Userprofile%\AppData\Local\Hinterland\TheLongDark\* f:\TLD_Backup\ /E/Q/R/Y
to save the complete folder.

Important!
Since it is now possible to play older versions of TLD, the file user001 was extended by an extension which represents the revision number of the game it was created with. For example user001.58341, which was necessary to prevent that newer versions are overwritten by older ones and that possibly reached badges are lost. The user001.cfg is also extended by a usercfg.58341

A word from the creators:

So since english is not our native language it's often difficult to get a proper translation of what we are trying to say.

If there is something strange in the TLD-Guide, who you gonna call?
Please not the Ghost Busters, tell us whats wrong or misleading. Thank you.

Keep in mind that every improvement of this guide benefits every player who needs it.

RepConn and Gecko-[GER]

---

Since the end of 2017 I (Gecko-[GER]) have been working almost alone on these guides. Therefore it can take longer until changes are integrated.

Apart of:

IFIYGD, delta, ProsPex and lindenparker

a lot of people don't know that they worked indirectly on this guide and the Travel Guide.

It's time to mention them here.

• [CBF]RAIN
  
• EN16M471C
  
• JayXL
  
• jswilliams
  
• ajb1978
  
• mf187doubleg
  
• Hotzn
  
• Alcator
  
• Pestilence (private profile)
  
• bethany (former forum mod ; private profile)

... and many others whose names I can't remember.