We’ve put our blood, sweat, and tears into this build. We hope you enjoy every minute of it.

Download Instructions

Please follow the instructions which pertain to your specific situation.

A) I’ve already downloaded and need to update my current game.

1. Run TDL.exe. (Requires version Build 003 or later. If you are that far behind, we recommend using step B instead.)
2. You will be asked if you want to update.
3. Click Yes.
4. The game will begin updating. The patch is 71 MB in size. Progress is shown in the black command window.
5. Once finished, you will be fully updated to the latest version.* Enjoy!

B) I’ve bought the game, but I haven’t downloaded it yet.

1. Ensure you are logged in to your Sandswept Legion account that was used to purchase the game. (If you have a code, redeem via the link in Step 2.)
2. Go to the BuyTDL page.
3. If you have purchased the game, you will be redirect to a download link, which will download the latest build in full.
4. Once done with download, run the installer.
5. Allow the game to update to its current patch version, if any.
6. Enjoy!

C) I haven’t purchased The Dead Linger yet.

1. If you have not purchased The Dead Linger, you can pre-order now to enjoy the Alpha, future Beta, and final release! If you purchase now, you never have to buy it again.
2. Once purchased, follow instruction set B.

Patch Notes:

Gameplay Changes:

• Massive Feature: Fall damage has been added for both survivors and zombies. Watch your step!
• Survivors can hold crouch (Default: Left CTRL) at the last second to mitigate substantial amounts of damage from a fall. We recommend using this technique often, or you will have very sore ankles.
• Added a message on the death screen for dying from fall damage.
• Massive Feature: Free-form nailing of wood for barricades and structures is now available.
• Boards that are nailed up to cover doors and windows will have to be destroyed by survivors and zombies before they can progress past them. Improperly positioned boards will not stop zombies. The effectiveness of a barricade is directly proportional to the positioning of the boards by the survivor.
• A message now appears in the chat box if the survivor tries to open a door that is blocked by something, such as a nailed up board.
• To nail a wooden object to another stationary object, equip a hammer and grab a 2×4 or similar piece of wood. (Default: Middle Mouse Button or C key) Position the board against a stationary object, and then press melee attack to nail the boards into place. (Default: Left Mouse Button) This process takes 1 second. This system currently does not require nails, but it will in a future build. Build well, Survivors.
• Survivors can remove a board by using secondary attack (Default: Right Mouse Button) while wielding the hammer. This will pry the board off of the surface after 2 seconds. This is the only way to salvage a board after it has been nailed to a surface.
• Doors can not be opened if there is a board nailed across them.
• You can now drive wooden 2x4s into the ground as posts. You can do this by equipping the Sledgehammer and grabbing a 2×4 or similar type of wood. Position the object vertically by rotating it (Default: Right Mouse Button) and hold it there, touching the ground. Then pound the object into the ground by using your melee attack (default: Left Mouse Button.) This action can only be done on terrain, such as grass or dirt.
• Items that can be nailed by a hammer can no longer go into your backpack while you are wielding a hammer. (Example: The 2×4 weapon can not be put into your inventory while holding a hammer. We found this causes far less annoyance for Survivors when they’re trying to pick up 2x4s to nail them to a wall.)
• There are now multiple nailable objects, such as varying lengths of 2x4s, and a few plywood sheets. They can be found in piles in random suburban backyards, or by chopping down trees and telephone poles.
• Note to builders: You can currently climb ladders while grabbing objects and holding them in front of you. This is working as intended. While slightly unrealistic, we feel that the gameplay gains a substantial benefit from this.
• Massive Feature: Trees can now be cut down by hatchets and fireaxes, and they will drop wood. Larger trees will take longer to cut down, but yield in more wood.
• Two new sharp weapons have been added; a one-handed Hatchet and two-handed Fireaxe.
• Fireaxes will cut a tree down slightly quicker than a hatchet.
• Cutting trees with axes will reduce their durability.
• Major Change to Sprinting: In order to improve long-distance travel, Survivors can now continue to sprint with no stamina, but they will sprint at a 25% slower pace and their stamina will not regenerate until they stop sprinting.
• Fixed a bug so that survivors can no longer go into crouch state while falling or jumping.
• Projectiles from a firearm will now shatter windows.
• Doors and many other objects now use a health value for destructibility. This means that weapons that do more damage will destroy doors faster.
• Doors generally take much more damage before breaking now.
• To prevent confusion, all forms of the crossair are now hidden during certain actions, such as swinging a melee weapon.
• Infection Diminish (the stat generally found on gas masks) now decreases Infection at 0.5% per minute, down from 1% per minute.
• Fixed a bug where objects, including draggable objects, would reset their rotation when the survivor lets go of them.
• Fixed a bug where objects grabbed by other survivors in multiplayer would not always appear in the correct place.
• Fixed some bugs involving survivors holding, dropping, and carrying items in multiplayer.
• Fixed a timing bug where melee and other action states would carry over for too long. Survivors should no longer encounter the issue where they would be unable to melee for a moment after a melee animation has ended. This also fixes an issue where guns would load rounds into magazines and firearms about twice as slow as intended.
• Netcode has been improved so that survivors are no longer sliding around as much as before in multiplayer games, and more accurately show their position at all times.
• Fixed a bug where the window-break sound was playing every time a window was hit.
• A stomach rumble sound now plays when you are getting hungry. It will also play if you enter the world while hungry.
• Other objects are starting to emit various noises when struck. This system is in preparing for zombie hit noises and other satisfying sounds.

Zombie Changes:

• Fixed a bug where zombies visual aggression range was much shorter than intended.
• Zombie sight range has been modified a bit to be more responsive and further distance. Zombies will pursue the survivors a bit more aggressively when they’re in proper sight range.
• Zombie spawn rates have been tweaked a bit. Starving Zombies will spawn slightly more often (33% up from 30%) whereas Healthy Zombies will spawn slightly less often. (5% down from 8%)
• Zombies now deal increased infection risk to survivors. 4% infection risk is added per hit, up from 3%. We are still investigating ways to improve the fairness and reliability of the infection system prior to adding more features to it.
• Zombies will now attack barricades at different speeds, depending on their level of decomposition. For example, Healthy zombies will hit doors and barricades more rapidly than Starving or Regular zombies.
• Multiple changes have been made to the way zombies react to survivors, particularly when the survivor is crouching. Survivors can now more easily avoid zombies by crouch-walking and otherwise sneaking about, as long as they’re careful.
• Sprinting will not draw the attention of zombies as much as it used to.
• Zombies will no longer slide about or animate a walk between hits against a door or barricade.
• Fixed a bug where zombies were not repopulating areas over time.
• Fixed a bug where the zombie knockback animation was not playing properly.
• Added extra checks to ensure that ‘invisible’ zombies would properly update and appear on screen.
• Zombies now update more often, especially when pursuing a survivor. Zombies should better represent where they are standing and should never not be visible when hitting a survivor.
• Added some small changes to zombie pathing and the way zombies detect when they need to use a path point. Zombies should pursue the survivors a bit better around complicated obstacles, such as stairs.
• Fixed a bug where zombies were not animating all of their actions properly. Zombie animations are now more reliable in general. Zombies will animate the proper motions more often, such as when pounding on a door or barricade.
• Fixed a bug causing Healthy Zombies to not use their attack animation.

World Changes:

• The new world save folder is called TDLWorld009. As usual, the game is in Alpha and data can sometimes be lost due to bugs. We ask that survivors do not get too attached to their worlds and inventories at this time, just in case.
• Large, looming 4-story office buildings now spawn in Town zones. These are filled with loot, as well as numerous undead, and provide a great vantage point over a town.
• A log cabin now has a 50% chance to spawn in any forest zone. This is a secluded and generally secure location, often filled with some unique treasures and items related to hunting.
• Terrain colors have been rebalanced to more realistic hues.
• We have created a system for randomizing house textures and the textures of other structures. Houses will now come in more varied colors. We will be adding more depth to this system later on, such as swapping out interior colors.
• Suburban neighborhoods now have a higher amount of trees in the yards.
• Transmission towers can now be seen looming across the fields and forests of the world.
• Many LOD models (distance imposters) have been updated. Farm crops no longer appear as solid green or yellow blocks from a distance.
• Grass clutter on the ground has been heavily optimized and should no longer cause the game to ‘hiccup’ as you travel. Unrelated hiccups may still be present, but far less often.
• Grass now appears much further out. You can disable the grass by unchecking the checkbox in the Main Menu, Graphics Settings screen. This may yield in some performance gain for lower end machines.
• We have taken some steps to reduce the memory usage and clean up memory usage in general. Survivors should experience less crashes due to running out of memory when traveling for very long distances.
• Barns are now a great place to reliably find piles of wood.
• The front doors on houses have received a new model and texture.
• Round hay bales now appear in wheat fields.
• There is a very low chance that an old cabin will appear on a farm instead of a farm house.
• Farms will now sometimes be found with only 1 grain silo, instead of 2.
• Swerts now only have a 1% chance of spawning in Suburban zones.
• Swerts now have a 20% chance of appearing in Town zones.
• Fixed a huge bug that was causing Town zones to never spawn.
• City zones (which looked similar to Suburban zones) can no longer be found in the world, as we prepare them for a much bigger re-appearance in the future.
• Town zones will almost always have at least 1 water tower.
• Suburban zones now have a very rare chance of having a water tower.
• City zones (which were currently identical to Town zones) have been removed until we have unique buildings (i.e. skyscrapers) prepared for them.
• The Swerts store has undergone some substantial texture changes to enhance general grunginess and wear.
• Small backpacks are a bit more common now, making them easier to find.
• Ground should now appear flat underneath Swerts store parking lots, and better match the curb edge properly
• Forests now have about three times as many trees as before.
• Fixed a bug that was causing road intersections to appear darker than intended.
• Fixed a bug that was causing road intersections to appear in off-center from where they should be appearing.
• Some object weights have been redistributed to better represent their real-world weight.
• Fixed a bug where doors would fly off their hinges and spin around in multiplayer games.
• Fixed a bug where some objects were appearing multiple times on top of each other in the farm and prison zones. This should yield in a small performance increase, and survivors should no longer find multiple doors in a single doorway.

General Changes:

• Inventory saving reliability has been drastically improved. Survivors should retain their gear between sessions much more reliably than before.
• Added a new sprint animation for 2-Hand Long animations, such as the Sledgehammer and Lacrosse Stick.
• Fixed a bug where the fog at the horizon was set to a longer distance than the horizon itself. Fog should now show near the far edges of the horizon.
• The default far horizon has been moved in slightly to increase performance.
• A bug causing the SK 63 rifle’s reload animation to appear strangely has been fixed.
• The F1 Control Help List that appears on screen during gameplay now automatically fades away after 30 seconds. It can be re-opened by pressing the F1 key.
• First person animations no longer default to ‘fist idle’ pose when the survivor enters various states such as jumping or crouching. Weapons now use the default idle animation when there is no existing animation to fall back to.
• Fixed a bug where the survivor could not press OK to disconnect if the multiplayer scoreboard is up when a server shuts down.

ROADMAP CHANGES:

1. Survivor Gameplay

2. Creatures

3. Vehicles and Transporation

4. The World

5. Servers and Multiplayer

6. General Options

Upcoming Roadmap Estimates for Build 010: Hunting, Tertiary Items, Campfires, Throwable Items, Zombie AI, the start of Crafting, and more!

KNOWN ISSUES:
- There are sometimes strange looking ‘seams’ in the terrain on the edges of a zone. They do not adversely affect gameplay.
- There are still some rare crashes that will occur (Remember; this is Alpha,) and they generally occur more often in Multiplayer than Solo Mode. You can generally just restart the game and you’re good to go.
- Inventories can still be corrupted and not save during certain crashes, but they are rare.
- Roads will sometimes intersect terrain.
- Grass will sometimes still appear on roads when you first enter the world and spawn near a road. If you leave the area and then come back, the grass will be gone from the roads.
- Some of the glass panes on the office building do not appear with the correct rotation.
- Roads do not have collision and the terrain collision is currently used instead. Due to this fact, items can sometimes be hidden by falling on roads. We recommend that survivors do not intentionally drop items on road surfaces, or they might lose track of where it dropped.
- There are some bugs with throwing held objects, especially in multiplayer. The objects may not always throw or land in the same way from different survivor’s perspectives.

Please report any and all bugs to our Bug Report Forum!

We predict some hotfixes will be released as well. We are already beginning work on Hotfix 009a to add some small fixes and additions. Stay tuned to our twitter on @thedeadlinger to keep up to date!

Linger on, Survivors!

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It’s time for another Survivor Showcase! The Survivor Showcase is where we take awesome creations created by you — the community — and showcase them on our blog. It can be anything from fan art to fan fiction, and more! Please remember that items showcased here will not necessarily end up in the game and do not reflect the level of artwork found in The Dead Linger. The Survivor Showcase is here for your enjoyment and viewing pleasure!

1) Video – The Real TDL:Episode 1 by GamesUnhinged
Two survivors, Michael and Anthony have started a new hilariously awesome TDL video series. Check out their first episode that has both horror and humor – sick humor. Be sure to check out their Episode 2 as well!

2) 3D – WIP: Three sets of knuckles by puffdadder
Survivor puffdadder has created three awesome knuckles the Dragon Knucklers, the Wiley Whacker, and the traditional belt buckle knucklers. Which one is your favorite? Comment and let us know!

3) Fan Fiction – Getting out of Suburbia by Mensch
You can really picture yourself as the main character in this piece, as you are forced to move from your hideout in suburbia to a cozy barn. It has a surprisingly amusing twist at the end, too!

4) Art – Zag Tribute by Trefleh
Are we saving the best for last? Maybe.

You too can be showcased on the weekly Survivor Showcase by posting your The Dead Linger fan creations on our Survivor Creations forum. Go out there and make some incredible creations! Don’t forget to comment on your fellow Survivor’s creations to show your support and give them helpful feedback!

Click here to comment!

Click the image below to check it out!

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It has arrived!

As some of you may know, we at Sandswept have backed the Kickstarter for the Oculus Rift way back in September. Well, the Oculus Rift developers have delivered, and we are now in possession of an Oculus Rift Developer Kit with plans for integration into The Dead Linger. Here’s a bunch of pictures detailing the unboxing process, showing off the kit, and in general, whetting your appetites for what is to come.

The integration of the Oculus Rift (and all other features in The Dead Linger) will be tracked via our upcoming “Development Roadmap” page, which Geoff has been working on for awhile, and it is looking quite spiffy. We’ll announce and open that page to the public the very moment it’s complete.

Until then, enjoy Geoff and Richard’s hands unbox the Oculus Rift!

The Box, excitement level rising!

Fancy container. Very high quality product here.

A lot lighter than it looks!

Welcome to the future of gaming?

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It’s time for our monthly Survivor Spotlight! The Survivor Spotlight is a monthly blog post where we hand-pick a Survivor from the community – like you – and interview them.

As you all might know, the team over here at Sandswept has been working super hard to get Build 008 and a handful of Hotfixes out to you guys. We’ve neglected everything else, from eating, showering, and posting Survivor Spotlights! We hope you forgive us as we present April’s Survivor Spotlight – a self-proclaimed pastafarian, brony, and avid gamer from Norway – Split-Second!

FEMME: What is your name?
SPLIT-SECOND: My full name is Jørgen Jansen. The “Ø” is pronounced like the “u” in “hamburger”. You might know it better from the measurement of the diameter of things, but it really is a letter in my language. I usually tell people abroad my name is Yorgen for ease of communication, but it really is a bit more complicated…

F: Where do you live?
SS: As you might have guessed by now, I live in Norway; a narrow but elongated country in northern Europe, more specifically, Scandinavia. It’s a nice place, but it’s a bit too strict with it’s laws to my liking. The time here is a bit ahead of you (GMT +1), so everything that happens on the US East Coast is about 6 hours after us, so any of your TV shows I have to watch the next day, along with TDL patches ;)

F: How did you come up with your handle (Split-Second)?
SS: Well, as I suspect most people throughout the history of the Internet has experienced as well, I’ve jumped between many nicknames through the years I’ve spent on the bloody thing. I decided to settle on “Split-Second” sometime in 2009 after I figured I needed a more international screen-name than “Agurk”, which means “cucumber” in Norwegian. I’m a fan of 1-word nicknames or names that aren’t composed of various strange words or symbols.

I Just thought it sounded cool, although my friends, now accustomed to me changing nicknames every so often teased me with calling me “Split-Personality”. I’ve since gone over to “Cloudhex” but I still hang on to “Split-Second” on the Sandswept forums.

F: How did you first hear about The Dead Linger and Sandswept?
SS: Well, that’s a funny story. I first heard about TDL through my (fake) Twitter account when Kane Waltman tweeted that someone was making the game he wanted to make, with a link to the TDL Kickstarter. I read the page, then immediately backed the project.

I heard about Sandswept through the TDL Kickstarter, then I went on to create an account on your website and learned more about you guys as time went by. I got a good impression of your effort and devotion during the initial time I spent there.

F: What is your favorite weapon in The Dead Linger?
SS: Currently, I’m going to have to say the Mediator, mostly because I’m a huge fan of the Beretta M9/92FS, which the Mediator is based upon. I’m also a fan of the cinderblock melee weapon because it’s such a strange – but still believably improvised – melee weapon.

F: If you could implement any feature into The Dead Linger, what would you choose?
SS: Oooh, that’s a tough one… I feel like all the features that could be implemented are already planned, but if I were to personally see to the implementation of a feature, I would make sure it was either Thirst or Ragdoll physics.

F: What is your “survival plan” for The Dead Linger?
SS: I like to think of myself as a scavenger type. I’d roam the wasteland of post-apocalyptic, zombie-infested cities searching for more and better means of survival. I would certainly try to keep on the move, but very much so in style and security.

F:What has been your most memorable moment in The Dead Linger so far?
SS: I’d have to say the most memorable moment would have to be a LAN party when 3 friends and I were exploring the world together back in Build 006 and we happened upon a water tower. We all had Katanas, except one friend who had a sledgehammer.

We were all rushing for the ladder as we had attracted a rather large group of zombies that were steadily closing in on us, and as we found it increasingly more difficult to attach our bodies to the ladder, we fought for dominance over it. Me, being the first one to actually manage to climb the tower, I watched as the other three aimlessly sabotaged each others’ attempts to do what I had just accomplished.

At the last second, they all decided to cooperate and climbed the ladder in a fashionable order. During our climb we discovered that we could sprint up the ladder, and we accused each other of being the weakest link in the chain as we bumrushed each other up the ladder.

I lost my grip on the ladder and to my relief I stood on the head of my friend below me. When we finally reached the top, we enjoyed the view for a while before we tried to climb the next ladder up to the top of the watertower. After much trial and error, we finally made it onto the top of the thing. We then went on to explore the innards of the very, very big and very, very empty watertower we had just spent so much time conquering.

As fate would have it, night-time set in while we were inside the cistern and in the pitch black that suddenly befell us, we decided that we would have a blind brawl. Having nothing to go after other than each other’s names, we set in motion the contest of the century. After swining our respective weapons at each other’s bright white names for about 10 minutes, one of us finally succumbed to a Katana, and subsequently, the rest of us fell to the sledgehammer.

Fun times!

F:That was great! I know you haven’t had the opportunity to play Build 008 yet, as you are on vacation in Italy, so what are you most excited for in Build 009?
SS: New weapons! I’m kinda a gun-nut… And the early iterations of barricading of course :)

F: What are some of your favorite games?
SS: Baldur’s Gate
Diablo II
Starcraft
Fallout
Donkey Kong 64
Goldeneye 007
Perfect Dark
Mario Kart
Super Mario 64
Half-Life
Counter-Strike: Source
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
Left 4 Dead
Those are the games at the top of my head that I consider my favorites, though there are more. I’m also really interested in Indie games, such as
TDL
Minecraft
Terraria
Kenshi
Interstellar Marines

F: What video game genre do you enjoy playing the most?
SS: Zombies are a definitive classic, but most of all I enjoy general survival games and especially FPS/RPG blends with constructive elements

F: What are some of your other hobbies outside of gaming?
SS: Strictly outside of gaming I’m making my own game, as an amateur project. I also enjoy composing music! RC is a big hobby of mine as well, and I have a few nitro cars and helis.

F: Describe your perfect day, or 24 hours.
SS: My perfect day would begin with an early breakfast consisting of egg and bacon, followed by a personal airplane ride in the clouds. It would be a day in the sun with my friends, not going anywhere specific, but the beach sounds nice! The day would end around a bonfire drinking red wine, looking at the stars and talking.

F: Are you in school?
SS: I currently attend a folk school, studying radio-controlled stuff and such. Yes, there really is such a thing :P I’m contemplating a career in the Norwegian Air Force.

F: If you could swap lives with any person – dead or alive – who would you swap lives with?
SS: Probably Bill Gates or some other super rich dude. But I’m pretty happy with my own life as it is, though.

F: Would you like to give a shoutout to anyone?
SS: I’d like to give a shoutout to all you awesome people on the forums! Yes, you! Thanks for making the forums an awesome place! Specifically I’d like to thank Howell and all the other mods for their effort – and all the regulars as well!

And the epic devs for making this game, as well as you, Dana, for doing all these cool things and making the community so extraordinary!

F: Thanks so much for your support and participating in this interview, Split-Second! I had a blast and I know everyone will get a kick out of reading your answers :)

If you’d like to contact Split-Second, you can PM him on the Sandswept Forums, or visit his YouTube page!

Linger on, Survivors.

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