Experimental Branch Patch

Thank you to everyone who has been playing the experimental branch and giving us feedback!

We are really happy with how this update is progressing so far and appreciate your thoughts.

Reminder: How to Participate

Right-click Saleblazers in your Steam library. Select properties. Select game versions and betas. Select "experimental". After a short update, you will now launch the experimental branch of Saleblazers.

Leave in-game feedback via the ESC menu -> System -> Feedback, or on our Discord in the experimental-chat channel.

Reminder: Experimental Save Files

The experimental branch uses its own save folder. You can read more about transferring in the Experimental Update #1 Announcement .

This experimental hotfix is a mix of several things:

Saves and characters : unlimited manual save slots and an updated save menu, character backups, new character selection Updated menus : a new System tab in the ESC menu, native pop-up keyboard support, more controller support Shop QoL : easier access to the new display stocking view, customer improvements And lots of bug fixes !

Better Saves and Menus

No More Manual Save Limit

We have redesigned the save selection flow so you don't have to worry about manual save slots and can see a better preview of all of your files. You can also overwrite saves from your current campaign.

Playtime Tracking

Saves and characters now track playtime.

Older saves and characters show their playtime with a + because we can't accurately measure how long you played on each one before this update.

New Character Selection

We've redesigned character selection with posed portraits of each character and an options menu to rename, restore backups, or delete them.

Continue Character Portrait

Continue now shows the character you played on previously, and if you have another character selected, it will ask you if you want to switch.

NPC Shop Improvements

NPC shops now run timed sales on themed groups of items!

Shops now restock on a schedule: clothing and armor on Mondays, weapons on Wednesdays, furniture and decor on Fridays, and more for you to discover!

Upcoming restocks are marked on the calendar.

Better Access to Stocking View

You seem to like our new stocking view for displays, so we made it easier to use!

Tapping interact on a display now opens Stocking Mode right away instead of needing to hold.

If you're holding an item, the Place hotkey now puts it straight into the display or storage you're looking at.

Join Games in Progress

You can now join games that are already running straight from the server browser, without entering the lobby first.

Streamlined ESC Menu

Feedback, Settings, Lobby, Restart Pathfinding, and Save and Quit are now combined into one tab in the ESC menu called System.

More Controller and Steam Deck Support

On-screen Keyboard

We've added a new native on-screen keyboard that works without Steam. In Big Picture mode, you will still use the Steam keyboard.

Controller Input Updates

Building rotation is now only on L1, and R1 cycles your building hotbar Press L1 + R1 to ping, including on the world map On PlayStation controllers, the touchpad now works as Select

Clean Water

Coffee, tea, sprinklers, and other recipes now accept any clean water, in any cup or bowl.

Pickpocketing and Thievery Tweaks

Attacking neutral or friendly people now marks the loot they drop as Stolen Explosives now deal more damage in higher-level zones Explosives planted by pickpocketing now go off one after another and deal double damage to the person carrying them

Fishing Polish

We've improved fishing, including the line, casting, camera, catch animation, catch audio, and how the fish and the bobber move. Other players can now see your fishing line too!

Fish also spread better across shallow, middle, and deep water.

What's Next?

The experimental branch now includes the features we have planned for this update.

We'll improve stability, listen to your feedback, and make adjustments until the update is ready for everyone!

We have more exciting features in the works for our story mission work, including new NPC behaviors and better facial rigs (like the chef on the key art for these patch notes!), which we plan to bring to you in another experimental patch after this one!

Full Changelist

Changes

Tapping interact on a display now opens stocking mode, and Place puts the item you're holding straight into the display or container you're looking at You can now join games that are already running straight from the server browser without entering the lobby first There is no longer a limit on manual saves for each world You can now overwrite saves from your current campaign, including the main save and autosaves, and the save menu shows how much storage your saves use You can now go back to an older version of a character from Options > Backups on the character selection screen Improved fishing line, casting, camera, catch animation, catch audio, and how the fish and the bobber move. Other players now see your fishing line The quit button in the ESC menu is now clearly labeled Save and Quit and takes you to the title screen Redesigned character selection with posed portraits of each character, and a menu to rename, restore backups, or delete them Continue now shows the character you last played for that save, and asks if you want to switch Combined Feedback, Settings, Lobby, Restart Pathfinding, and Save and Quit into one tab in the ESC menu called System Plastic is now made from a mix of trash types: moldy cups, used chip bags, or trash bags Coffee, iced coffee, tea, Cherry Blossom Tea, the Cherry Blossom Bonsai, the Electric Sprinkler, and the Water Bubble and Icicle Spellbooks now accept any clean water, in any cup or bowl Recipes that accept several ingredients now cycle through them in the crafting menu and explain them in the recipe book, and employees can craft with them too Throwing power now scales with Strength Attacking neutral or friendly people now marks the loot they drop as Stolen Putting non-hostile NPCs to sleep or confusing them is now a crime called Misuse of Magic After the first time, putting the same NPC to sleep or confusing them again gives each item they carry a small chance to break to reduce infinite pickpocket loops Broken items show in a Destroyed section when you pickpocket them Explosives now deal more damage in higher-level zones Armored attribute rolls on new clothing now scale by slot Text fields now open Steam's on-screen keyboard automatically on Steam Deck and in Big Picture mode Origins in the character creator are now a scrollable list that shows your character in each origin's outfit NPC shops now list non-stackable items individually, show each gun's actual damage, and let you hold the quantity buttons Chef Pippo can't sell Wheat, Baguettes, and Iced Coffee until after you finish the Farming quest Added Put in Backpack to the context menu You can now open Lobby Settings while creating a new campaign in single player The Report an Issue form now has controller support, and you can pick an emoji to show how you feel instead of confusing severity numbers Fish now spread better across shallow, middle, and deep water On controller, building hammer rotation is now only on L1, and R1 cycles your hotbar On controller, press L1 + R1 to ping, including on the world map On controller, tap LT/L2 to Quick Deposit matching items into an open container, or hold it to deposit everything On controller, press Triangle/Y on the System tab of the ESC menu to quickly Save and Quit Explosives planted by pickpocketing now go off one after another, and deal double damage to the person carrying them You can now pickpocket sleeping NPCs from the slumber spell Failing to pickpocket a sleeping, stunned, or confused NPC now snaps them out of it Save cards now show full-size previews, along with the day, playtime, and when they were saved The lobby's save picker now shows your last quit, autosaves, and manual saves as separate cards Naming map markers and signs now uses a new text entry window with controller support, and its on-screen keyboard works without Steam You can now name your custom map markers, and place them on controller Older saves and characters now track playtime from now on, shown with a + because earlier playtime is unknown The throw prompt now reaches farther as your Strength goes up, out to lock-on range at 99 Added a recipe that makes bottled water from plastic and clean water Rebalanced Electric Sprinkler, Water Bubble Spellbook, and apple juice recipes with the clean water change in mind Resource Density options are now called Hardcore, Normal, and Bountiful The Durable attribute now adds a bonus to an item's sale price Attributes you do not meet the requirements for get dimmed in the item hover UI Item quantities in stocking, loot, pickpocket, and NPC shop lists are now easier to read Restart Pathfinding button now has better feedback On controller, Circle/B closes the Start menu ESC menus and popups are smaller on mouse and keyboard The Save tab is hidden for players who are not the host The save menu properly explains why a save cannot be deleted The character backup selection screen now shows each backup's attributes for comparison The quit confirmation now tells you whether you are on a manual save or an autosave Clothing destroyed when an NPC dies now shows in a grayed-out Destroyed section of their loot, so you can see what was lost Kazai villagers and police now sometimes carry soda, and Kazai villagers can have soda in their pockets Removed the old Fiber Cloth item from NPC pocket loot Fishing rods now show Line Strength at the top of their details Moving up from the hotbar on controller now goes to the matching backpack column On PlayStation controllers, the touchpad now works as Select You can now double-tap and hold forward to sprint on keyboard Sharks now open their jaws as they chase you Characters' eyes now glance around naturally Zone names on the world map now fade out when you zoom all the way out Crabs are now called Crab, Giant Crab, and Mutant Crab based on size Smoke grenades now make an explosion sound Haggling now gives a short vibration that scales with the sale, instead of a constant one Press Any Key now appears right after the intro Menu hover sounds now vary slightly, and ESC menu tabs make a page-flip sound

Fixes

Fixed a rare bug where saving could wipe shop plot progress, such as its level, in areas that had just loaded in Quest events now trigger properly The ocean no longer floods enclosed inland areas like the Kazai quarry Nearby item interaction no longer picks items far above you or through walls, floors, and doors Characters no longer freeze after getting up from a ragdoll NPCs no longer freeze in place after a checkout ends their conversation Customers who are knocked out during checkout no longer hold up the register and line Backpacks inside your inventory now load properly from saves Water splash and underwater sounds now properly follow your volume settings Hair, eyebrow, and beard colors no longer change after loading a save in some languages The option to skip the tutorial in the cafeteria works again The jump and dash tutorial steps now complete properly The bamboo hammer research and shop policy tutorial steps now complete properly Headshots now register properly on NPCs of every size The hammer can move shelves again On controller, pressing Circle/B while aiming the hammer at a floor now properly lets you change its type Customers no longer spill stock off display shelves when they cannot pick it up Item prices and pickpocket odds now match an item's actual rarity and attributes Large ranged weapons no longer roll Resolute Defense Selling a stack now shows and records the price of each item, not the whole stack The save browser and character selection now load much faster Teleporting from the map is less likely to get stuck on the loading screen Flashbangs now work properly in multiplayer, and their blackout is now fully opaque Aiming healing spells at people no longer counts as pointing a gun at them On controller, the crosshair now shows, and looting no longer gets blocked after using the mouse Quick Deposit and hotbar buttons now work properly on controller On controller, menu focus now works on the research board, container sort options, and the Character page You can fulfill customer requests from your backpack inventory properly Sharks more reliably notice swimmers Fish now bite at a consistent distance from your hook, including in raised water Casts that land somewhere invalid now reel back in instead of leaving the bobber stuck With a full inventory, fish you catch at rocky shores should no longer clip under the ground The Mop research is no longer missing after you have unlocked it Drink shop recipe books now show the right names and unlock the right recipes Recipe books in NPC shops no longer show blank titles Rotated building pieces now stay rotated when they snap into place Taller and shorter characters no longer float above or sink into the ground Nearby NPCs no longer float or stutter when you turn the camera NPCs no longer sometimes appear with invisible pants or shoes Customer request items show their details again Save and Quit now only warns about overwriting when your World Save is actually newer Display Mode is back in the video settings, was not an intentional omission UI scale is back to its normal default on first launch The title screen is now fully translated, including on first launch On controller, B no longer quits the Silver Tongue minigame by accident, and canceling a checkout no longer leaves the customer stuck Closing your inventory no longer stops you from crouching after switching between controller and keyboard On controller, focus now returns to your hotbar after the end-of-day summary, and the specialty item picker works properly On controller, stocking mode no longer skips the last backpack slot Sealed holes along the edges of the island ocean floor Fixed some water flashing colors on Mac Clothing NPCs drop should match what you saw when inspecting their pockets Some problem holster items no longer push you or your customers around at Mach 2 Fish no longer swim outside the water in Castle courtyards Caught fish now sit properly in your hands or box The catch sound no longer repeats for every attribute at the end of the fishing minigame Lobby settings properly show their current values when you reopen them Lobby passwords are hidden while you type, and World Visits properly shows whether it is on or off The hammer and bamboo recipe lists now open and close properly, with the right button prompts Prologue tips now show controller buttons when you use a controller Playtime and dates now use your language's number and date format The shop policy screen no longer overlaps the shop sign, and its details show above the nodes without being cut off Item details no longer cover the item you are dragging Item names in stocking mode and at NPC merchants no longer get cut off, especially in other languages Long backpack names now wrap onto two lines instead of getting cut off Your wallet and shop status no longer show over the map and settings The outpost progress no longer stays on screen after loading a save inside an outpost Confusion and Sleep charge effects now stay the right size Items hit by Icicle and Ice Meteor spells no longer pick up a bugged Chill effect Mops and watering cans no longer leave bullet holes Lock-on nameplates in the Leyasoon and Zena boss fights are no longer stretched The throw prompt no longer shows when you cannot throw the item you are holding The research board no longer plays underwater audio The Colorful inventory background now works Containers use the right paper background again Hats and eyes no longer go missing from the ESC menu character preview the first time you open it Characters holding crafted food properly show up in character previews Polished the end-of-day summary's Next button slightly to improve controller use

These patch notes are also available on https://saleblazers.com/sections/changelog