- Kicked v285 (the latest build, with pickpocketing) onto the main branch! - 19 August 2026
Hello, just a note to say I've updated the main branch with the latest build in publicbeta, which means Pickpocketing is now fully released to everyone :)And I've updated the library page image with some new art from Ramiro Ra, who previously did the trading cards!EDIT - Saturday 22nd of August - Added a little hotfix (v286) to the publicbeta branch which fixes a crash when you hover over a pipe bomb in someone's inventory while using the Editor. That'll probably get pushed to the main branch soon.EDIT - Wednesday 26th of August - and now it has.
- New small patch in publicbeta (v284) - 10 August 2026
Hello, it's just another small patch in publicbeta. This is mainly to fix a crash when you try pickpocketing someone but your character is too moral or likes them too much to want to hurt them, which disables stuff like chokehold. But I didn't realise it was happening with pickpocketing, and the warning message caused a crash. There's also a fix for characters getting stuck in a loop finding wood to replenish a fire. And the Polish translation is getting close to being finished! Here's the full change list:Fix for mods with recipes that create liquid and containers not working unless you already have enough containers for the liquidFix for characters occasionally getting stuck in a loop getting wood to replenish a fire but then auto-depositing itSmall translation and text fixesCrash fixesUpdated Brazilian Portuguese, Polish and Russian translationsEDIT - Released a hotfix for a crash in…
- New small patch in publicbeta (v283) - 30 July 2026
Hello, just a small publicbeta update with a fix for an occasional crash if something gets deleted while you are repairing it, and a fix for the SIS Move Props mod, which it seems got broken by a change I made back in 2025.Also a tweak to how the Dark Past and Loyalty quests select a landmark for a meeting place, they've often been using vehicles along the roads which wasn't the original intention for those quests. They should prioritise "countryside props", i.e. crashed aircraft, weather or fire towers, log cabins and tanks, which tend to sit out in the open country and should mostly keep them away from towns. And in Story Mode they should mostly avoid the red and white strain areas.Here's the full list:Fix for crash when a building someone is repairing gets destroyed and then the game saved and reloadedFix for Dark Past and Loyalty quests often spawning the group you have to negotiate…
- New patch in publicbeta with pickpocketing (v279), last patch in main (v278) - 14 July 2026
Hello everyone, got kind of a bigger patch for you today as I've added pickpocketing and TAA (Temporal Anti-aliasing). The TAA is on a checkbox in the Settings/Graphics menu, it makes the black outlines look a lot smoother and more stable. Unfortunately it can make some other things a bit blurry when in motion so it's off by default. I prefer it despite the blur but your mileage may vary.The motivation for adding pickpocketing was that one quest in Story Mode where you have to plant a necklace on someone - using choke hold felt overly difficult for an early game quest. I think it will also come in useful for the fetch quests where you have to get "the Doc's old labcoat" or something off someone. Maybe it'll make surviving the early stages a little easier as well.. hopefully not too easy but the consensus from new players still seems to be that the game is pretty difficult.You can use it…
- New small patch in publicbeta (v278) - 9 May 2026
Hello I've released a new small patch in publicbeta, mainly because I discovered the last one broke a couple of important things. Fortunately they didn't make it into the main branch, so this is just a publicbeta update.Added settings for loot generation to spawn biohazard cocktails with infection (for modders)Minor fixes for options on action menu for loading different ammo types in guns/bowsFix for Morgan Harding not triggering the It Begins quest if the player community leader is dead (and possible related crash fix)Fix for game staying paused if you open info screen while in combat, potentially leading to soft lock at start of Story ModeFix for crash in community relationship editor in debug menuFix for rare crash introduced in v277 when loading some savegamesUpdated Brazilian Portuguese, Japanese, Latin American Spanish, European Spanish and Ukrainian translationsWhat's this public…
- One year anniversary, new publicbeta patch and translations in main branch - 27 April 2026
Hello, Survivalist: Invisible Strain has been out of early access for one year! Well actually that was two days ago. Anyway, seems like a good time for a sale, so Survivalist: Invisible Strain is participating in the Post Apocalyptic Festival on Steam from April 27th to May 4th, with a 50% discount! This festival was instigated by Red Rover Interactive the developers of the upcoming EngineFall, and includes some awesome games like Pacific Drive.There's also a new patch in publicbeta today, v277. I'm working on a new unannounced project these days but I'm still doing bug fixes, translation work where needed, and some gameplay tweaks on Invisible Strain (more info in the FAQ). This has some bug fixes but also some more hint messages telling people about how to deal with enemies with body armor (i.e. use armor piercing ranged ammo, or blunt melee weapons) as I've noticed a few people findi…
- New small patch in publicbeta (v276) - 15 April 2026
Hello, I've released another small update in the publicbeta branch. This contains some fixes and support for mods, and translator support. Also a slight tweak to combat; previously if you kept swinging your melee weapon at a zombie without being close enough to engage, they would back off, and you could in theory keep doing that forever - now after a few seconds of that they'll just attack no matter what.Fix for crash in SIS Extended: Adaptive CombatFix for Out Of Sync errors in multiplayer if one player has previously run SIS Ageing without restarting the game since, and the other hasn'tFixes for some errors in speech parameters, and added support for a female version of the word 'someone'.Fix for exploit where you could keep swinging your melee weapon at a zombie forever without them attacking, as they waited for you to stop swingingPossible fix for NPCs being slow to react to stuff o…
- New patch in publicbeta (v275) - 5 April 2026
Hello, there's a new patch in the publicbeta branch. It has a few small fixes for mods and translations, but the main change is that the Russian translation has been greatly improved by Pavel Borisov, who also did the Cyrillic fonts - many thanks for that! Here's the change list:Fix for Carter Moreno shooting you if you wait for 1 minute before replying in the Vanished questFix for error loading DLL for RV modFix for mods with multiple DLLs failing to load the remaining ones if one of them fails (SIS Extended: Standalone)Fix for crash when using the editor with SIS Pick BerriesFix for possessive form of names sometimes inserting a character in the wrong place in Russian and UkrainianFix for formulas not working in translations for some hint messagesRussian translation overhauled and massively improvedUpdated Brazilian Portuguese, French, Japanese, Latin American Spanish and European Spa…
- New patch in publicbeta (v274), previous patch in main branch (v272) - 24 March 2026
Hello, I've released a new patch in the publicbeta branch. This one has quite a few bug fixes, plus the Story Mode translations for both Indonesian and Ukrainian have now been completed!Here's the full change list:Fix for one NPC in a group of 4 followers constantly exiting the building you are in, when surrounded by zombiesFix for steroids in the fetch quest not appearing on an NPC's trade screen if they are hungryFix for preferences being saved whenever you enter the graphics settings menu even if you didn't change anything, which might have caused some weirdness (not sure)Fix for names sometimes being empty in speeches on Log pageFix for error message when you join a game via invite on a different version saying you have a story hash mismatch when it should say you are on the wrong game versionDon't allow drag-selecting in building mode as it conflicts with the Clear function and con…
- New small patch in publicbeta (v272), previous patch in main branch (v271) - 24 February 2026
Hello everyone, I've released a small patch in the publicbeta branch, mainly because someone found an occasional crash involving infected stew in cooking pots. Here's the change list:Fixes for some situations where cooks and crafters would get stuck in a repeating loop of taking and depositing itemsFix for 'Help the Wishkey Falls Militia survive the incoming bands of infected raiders' quest not finishing until the raiders bodies disappearFix for occasional crash when highlighting a cooking pot over a campfire with infected stew in itWhen you give stuff to people for free the penalty to respect will be less if they are your allies, but more if they are lootersUpdated Brazilian Portuguese, Japanese, Latin American Spanish, Spanish and Traditional Chinese translationsThe previous patch, v271, is now in the main branch and on XBox.What's this publicbeta thing?v272 will be in the "publicbeta…
- Vietnamese translation in main branch! + new small patch in publicbeta (v271) - 3 February 2026
Hey everyone, the patch with the Vietnamese translation is now available on the main branch (v270)! Thanks again to Trần Quốc Anh for the translation.There's also a new small patch (v271) in the publicbeta branch with some bug fixes:Fix for Auto Gear Up mod sometimes causing a crash on starting a new game if you start with a gunFix for some cases where items are picked up as part of roles sometimes not being marked as such and therefore not given priority to dump when freeing up spaceFix for being able to place workbenches, forges etc facing a building or rock so there's nowhere to stand while craftingFix for crafter assigned to workbench/forge etc just playing their work animation wherever they happen to be if the place they are supposed to stand while crafting is blockedSupport for formulas in text of some lines in the UI, for translatorsUpdated Brazilian Portuguese, Czech and Traditi…
- New patch in publicbeta with Vietnamese translation! (v269) - 14 January 2026
Hello, I've released a patch into the publicbeta branch with a brand new complete Vietnamese translation! Many thanks to Trần Quốc Anh for doing that!Here is the change list:Added Vietnamese translation!Updated Brazilian Portuguese, Czech, Italian, Japanese, Latin American Spanish, Spanish and Traditional Chinese translationsFix for achievements not being unlocked on XBox if you have a child account or something without access to multiplayerThe previous patch, v268, is now in the main branch and on XBox.EDIT - I've released a hotfix for a copy paste error in the Vietnamese translation for the Story Mode and Sandbox Mode descriptions when you start a new game (v270).What's this publicbeta thing?v269 will be in the "publicbeta" branch on Steam for a while, before pushing it to the main game and to XBox. If you want to try the latest features as they come out (and help test them!) it's a g…
- New patch in publicbeta (v267) - 8 December 2025
Hello everyone, it's time for a patch! The main thing in this one is I've added an option to the Online Co-op Settings menu called "Network Protocol". This is a bit of an experiment. The game uses the Steamworks API for networking, but Valve has made some changes since I originally implemented it and the version I've been using is apparently old and maybe due to be deprecated some day. So this option allows you to switch to their newer system. It's just a test for now to see if there are any bugs, but perhaps in future it will become the default.I'm not sure if it will actually make a difference to the user experience but Valve have built something called the Steam Datagram Relay which I'm theorizing that the new system might make better use of. Or maybe they both use it in the same way. The documentation doesn't seem entirely clear on that point so I'm not sure.But if you're having pro…
- Steam Awards & Trading Cards! - 25 November 2025
Hey everyone, it's Steam Awards time so please consider voting for Survivalist: Invisible Strain! I figured I'd go for "Best Game You Suck At" in honor of all the feedback I got this year saying I made Story Mode too difficult (oops, sorry about that). You've got till 1st December to vote, so don't sleep on it! ːSleepingZzzːPlus, the game now has Steam trading cards! (And badges, emoticons ːInfectedSignː and backgrounds).These were created by artist and fan Ramiro Ra, who also did some of the Spanish translation, so many thanks for that! ːZombieThumbUpː It'll drop a trading card every 2 hours of play time which you can use to craft badges and unlock backgrounds and emoticons. Get cozy ːCozyː and start playing :)End of Message ːStoppedː
- Czech translation in main branch and some new fixes in publicbeta! (v266) - 13 November 2025
Hello, got a patch for you today! The Czech translation, completed in v265, is now out of beta testing and into the main branch! Many thanks to Jiří Linhart for that.Plus there's a new patch in publicbeta, v266, with some bug fixes:Possible out of sync fixFix for crash when a character activates Invisible Strain when you are using mods with their own AI behaviours such as SIS Livestock ControlFix for world maps and geological maps not correctly displaying what area of the world they uncover when playing on a Huge (2km squared) game mapFix for NPCs sometimes getting stuck aiming their bows at enemies but not firing because they are too tired, but aiming is what makes them tiredFix for characters sometimes leaving the base to carry out roles such as lumberjack while enemies are outside and the gates are set to don't leave while under siegeFix for incompatibility with the SIS Extended Effe…
- German translation in main branch, and Czech completed in beta (v265)! - 26 October 2025
Hey everyone, I've updated the main branch to v264, which has the completed German translation in it, and there's now a new patch in the publicbeta branch with the completed Czech translation!Here's the full change list for v265:Completed Czech translation!Updated Brazilian Portuguese, Japanese and Latin American Spanish translationsStop people from tearing up their clothes to bandage friends in the middle of combat as it takes too long and makes them vulnerableFix for trappers who are set to auto-deposit wood sometimes getting stuck in a loop taking it and depositing itFix error saying You need to remove cooked food when trying to cook something with a pot or pan when there's a pan or pot already therePossible fix for guards who have other higher priority tasks sometimes not returning to them when they become neededv264 is also on XBox now.What's this publicbeta thing?v265 will be in t…
- New patch in publicbeta with German translation finished! (v264) - 16 October 2025
Hello everyone, there's a new patch in publicbeta which finally finishes the German translation! There has been a partial German translation of Sandbox Mode and the UI for a few years, but this fills in the gaps and adds Story Mode.Here's the full change list:Completed German translation!Updated Brazilian Portuguese, Czech and Japanese translationsReduced volume of car crash sound slightly and fixed bug where engine noise keeps playing while pause menu is upSome fixes for bugs when ticking, subscribing and unsubscribing to mods in quick succession in the Select Mods screenFix for enclosed areas not being recalculated after you build a gateFix for props such as tents sometimes being spawned away from the area they were placed if there were old crop patches thereThe previous patch (v263) has been promoted to the main branch and XBox.What's this publicbeta thing?v264 will be in the "public…
- New patch in publicbeta (v263), previous patch moved to main branch (v262) - 4 October 2025
Hello everyone, there's a new patch in the publicbeta branch! One small new feature in this one, for people using gamepads, who previously never had a convenient way to quicksave: now you can do it by opening the pause menu and pressing the alt action button (e.g. X on the XBox controller). So it's a fairly quick two button presses instead of having to go into the Save Game menu. If you're playing with save tokens enabled, it'll show how many of them you have left too, so it's convenient in that way.Here's the full change list:Added quicksave prompt mapped to alt action (e.g. X button on XBox controller) to pause menu for people playing on gamepadsFix for multiple chickens brooding the same egg if there are fewer eggs in a coop than broody chickensFix for game not loading properly on XBox if you get an XBox error message about not having enough space for savegamesFix for error message w…
- New small patch in publicbeta (v262), previous patch moved to main (v261) - 21 September 2025
Hey everyone, I've released a new small patch today, mainly because someone had a bug in Story Mode that stopped them progressing with some of the plot. There's also a slight improvement to vaulting - if you're vaulting a long line of fences (such as the ones around the gas station in Story Mode), you can turn right or left to get off instead of having to watch your character do this goofy vaulting animation all the way to the end of it with no way to stop it.Here's the change list:If you are vaulting a long line of fences you can turn sideways to cancel it, as long as there's nothing blocking youFix for surrender to FEMA quest triggering late in the story when it's no longer relevantFix for Kelly/Liam's plan not triggering if you get to that point after the doom raiders start comingFix for customizable reload speed not working when character is AI-controlledThe previous patch, v261, is…
- New patch in publicbeta (v261), previous patch in main (v260) - 16 September 2025
Hello, I've got a patch with a few more bug fixes for you today:Added ability for modders to vary reload speed of weapons according skillFix for being able to unbind critical menu navigation buttonsFix for crash in SIS Clean Trash modFix for error on XBox when saving very large savegamesFix for pressing Back button on gamepad backing out of menus when you have a drop-down open instead of closing the drop-downFix for Charlie Gant not correctly triggering something as part of his quest if he isn't in your community at the timeFix for rare bug where Liam Franks attacks you at a weird time if he happened to notice some property damage you caused earlierFix for approval and respect for giving people supplies or ripping them off in the winter food quest being way out of proportionFix for windows cursor becoming visible and never going away if you open the NVidia recording overlay, then alt+ta…
