You SHOULD KNOW these settings in The Long Dark

There are several settings in The Long Dark that you should know, because they can severely improve your gameplay, even if it does not directly impact survival. Here are the key settings you need to know about.
Chapters:
00:00 Intro
00:48 HUD type
02:12 Interaction type
03:05 Dampen motion
03:36 Struggle input type
06:45 Autowalk
07:58 Eating and Drinking Filter
Art Director:
Elentia
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[@Todarain]

A thing to note about the contextual HUD type: if you press TAB, your meters will show up briefly on your screen, so it's not as cumbersome as you'd think to quickly check your stats.

[@RazDU]

LoL he doesn't even know that.

[@SamTheApe]

@@RazDUalmost like he doesn’t use that hud type! 😲

[@RazDU]

@@SamTheApe yeah but he should've known that detail before doing a settings video.

[@ruzgar2900]

@@RazDU he for sure knows more than you lmao

[@TheGallicWitch]

I've always loved Hinterlands for their willingness to look into accessibility features. A little fun fact for you, I'm the reason why they added autowalk! When I started playing the game, I had to pause a lot and I could only do very short play sessions because I'm disabled and I have motor dysfunction in my hands that cause me a lot of pain. So holding down the walking key for hours was completely impossible for me and I was so disappointed because I loved TLD so much. So I wrote an email to Hinterlands explaining just that and asking if they'd add an autowalk or one of these mechanics where you click in the distance and your character walks automatically to the point where you clicked (like in the Dragon Age series for ex). I got an answer back to my email and Hinterlands told me that actually, another player had asked for autowalk as well and they had been considering it but since I was also asking, it showed that it was more than a one-player issue. So whoever wrote the email (I can't remember the name off the top of my head) promised they would look into the logistics of adding autowalk and that while they could not promise me an exact date, that I should look forward to the next update because they would try their very best to include autowalk in it. So I thanked them and what do you know, two months later the update came and they added autowalk!!! So I sent them an email at that point, basically thanking them immensely because they were, to my knowledge, the only dev team to do something like that because a handful of players were asking for it, and that I couldn't express just how much this had changed my playing of TLD, made is so much more accessible and so much less painful. The same person answered and told me they were very touched by my email and had read it to the whole team because this was the reason they were making games and they were very glad to have helped me. This series of interactions solidifed in my mind that Hinterlands was an incredibly genuine and caring team and I still hold that belief today!

[@Zaknafein]

Thank you for the story. Good to know and glad they added it :)

[@mkv2718]

Have you played Outward? That game would be almost unplayable without auto walk, (using it in that game is the only way to check your inventory while moving) So I thank you for your suggestion/complaint 😅

[@cloudedfreedom6286]

🎉 Now all people, disabled or not, can enjoy this awesome feature! Good job you and that other person. Good job on hinterland, too, for adding it quickly after a handful of people ask. I’m not disabled (when it comes to my hands, anyways) and can walk just fine but my hand does cramp a lot and I find I need to multitask and auto walk just lets me do that so thank you so much!!!

[@AetherNoble]

Thanks for making the game better😄 I’m pretty sure everyone uses auto walk at some point if they know about it

[@abcs3356]

Yea sure you did.

[@user-vz4sh7sx1q]

In my learning Phase of TLD i once wanted to crouch on the Ledge to reach the Summit , but pressed autowalk . Best learning ever , i never missclicked again XD

[@Rapid771]

"The Long Walk" is not a misspeak, it really sounds like a better, more suitable name for the game 😅

[@lewys9204]

So true, considering half the time its day light or stormy situations its hardly tbe long dark anymore

[@beardgoblin1090]

Oh. My. Gawd! 672.5 hours since September 2016, and only now do I find there's a 'hold to struggle' setting! I have been hunching forward over my mouse and bringing my left hand in to hammer that lmb in struggles! Literal game changer! Thank you!

[@aribavel2757]

Thanks Zak. Those of us with carpal tunnel syndrome will definitely avail ourselves of your advice. Thanks again.

[@Scatt2k7]

How the hell you've got 25k subs is beyond me, you deserve more professor Zak ❤.

[@Wolfstrapp]

Thanks for showing, my auto-run is a 20mm cast iron ball that I place on top of my keyboard ;-)

[@ex-navyspook]

Wow! Glad you found this video; your method obviously works, but can't be good when you need to stop quickly.

[@Hunne2303]

Autowalk allows you to strafe and still auto-walk after releasing the button, contrary to what the text says... only two ways to stop are "back" or "autowalk button" again afaik

[@darioallende4191]

I'm enjoying contextual HUD now, feels more immersive and just clicking tab the Hud is displayed briefly to get a quick status report on your screen.

[@Burago2k]

yeah, but to people that are used to constantly seeing their stats on screen it would be quite scary forgetting to check lol

[@LifeguardOutofWater]

Thank you for this video! I really appreciate highlighting the different features we can turn on or off for accessibility or just preference. Auto walk has saved my fingers. I also have been enjoying these shorter and/or topic focused videos of yours! Great info and it’s nice to have the option to watch long dark content that isn’t 2 hours long.

[@user-kz8zr4si3i]

7:45 Lol i have never once even come close to falling off the broken rail before coatsal highway, he auto walked himself directly off a cliff and then surprised pikachu memed

[@The_Twig]

For all I know, I'm incredibly late here. After picking up the game from a hiatus, I came across a modifier on my PS5 for a 60 FPS option. I'm not at all sure if the option was added prior to my return, but it definitely improved things for me.

[@darioallende4191]

Another thing could have mentioned is the FILTERS. There's a Heritage filter and a. Noir filter available with the game, on display setting. This changes the look completely... take care, Cheers!!

[@ledekou1983]

Thanks for the summary of all these tips, I think most or all of them you already mentioned on other occasions and over the years they all really helped me play *the long walk* ;) Great video as always!

[@MedicineMan55]

I've completed one 500-day run and done several other short runs to accumulate achievements and I thought the autowalk feature was just "broken" somehow. Thank you for this video, Zak.

[@thedoctordallin]

Awesome video Zak, as always. I do however wish you had gone over what gameplay impacts your Field of View setting has. I personally play with it pumped up to the maximum setting, since I consider being able to see more and thus have better situational awareness to be good. I noticed in this video you keep yours near the default. Is there a particular gameplay reason for that, or just a personal preference thing? I would love to hear your thoughts on what the potential advantages and disadvantages changing this setting might have. Love your channel and thanks for the awesome content!

[@Zaknafein]

Thank you. I dont think I have messed with FOV in any game. The only time I even thought about it is when I spectated a friend in PUBG and he didnt see an enemy that was right there. Unless I have a wide monitor (or several) then I dont usually touch it.

[@nmavrantzas]

Well, in some areas I find it easier to reduce the graphics settings to make looting easier - e.g. for finding cattails in areas of heavy vegetation, or spent arrows in grass, or for targetting bunnies.

[@user-zi3co2ox3c]

I've found it very helpful to turn down the camera sensitivity to around 30%. This makes aiming and shooting at a zigzaging wolf much easier.

[@Autumn_IK]

I found long ago that for fighting wolves it was better (for my character's health, not my mouse's health) to spam than to hold. I actually found an easy way to spam without breaking a sweat, when "crunch time" comes, and while selecting the weapon for combat, I hold the mouse firmly with my right hand (I'm right-handed), and with two fingers of my left hand (and later three fingers) to spam for combat, it's much quicker and less tiring than trying to spam it with just one finger on your mouse-holding hand. I hope it helps someone, and that it's understood, I had to use the google translator. Good video, see you in the next one, greetings from Argentina.

[@JonathanRossRogers]

7:43 I have been playing TLD for many years and never fallen off the trestle. I also have never used auto walk. I'll be trying auto walk, but never near steep slopes.

[@Hunne2303]

I also never managed to fall of that thing but it is unnerving every time for some reason...

[@ex-navyspook]

Auto walk is nice in Paradise Valley (on a clear day, mind you), the Muskeg (ONLY on the tracks and, again, on a clear day), or in caves with ample light where you know where the drop-offs are. Even the ice or highway in the Coastal Highway are great...again, on a clear day...nothing sucks more than walking into a moose or bear in a dense fog because you were using auto walk, and weren't paying attention.

[@JonathanRossRogers]

@@Hunne2303 I never relax when crossing the single rail segment, which is why I've never fallen off.

[@arupian666]

I never knew about the thing where click 'n' hold makes you take more damage in wolf struggles. I mean, I never use that, I always spam the button. Somehow makes it feel like you're in an actual struggle for your life. Spamming the button, yelling every curse word you know. THAT'S the long dark, haha. One setting I always have "OFF" is, unfortunately, the music. I can't count the number of times hearing the little pitter-patter of a wolf walking has saved my skin. Gives you just those few precious seconds to prep for the struggle. I ADORE the soundtrack, but I feel VERY vulnerable if I'm in a wolfey area and the music starts playing at that time.

[@shivcharan5700]

I think you could have included one more setting - the Plant/foliage density setting in Quality. Reducing that to 0 will ensure you only see the collectable cattails without all the extra plants. Learned this from Atheenon and never revisited this setting since then! This does remove all the extra foliage from ground, including grass though. A slight plus for older GPUs.

[@Zaknafein]

Good to know, thank you :)

[@WanderingChord]

Even just cranking it down a little will help find missing arrows, sticks, crow feathers, etc. Came into the comments to say exactly this.

[@taranburnite6520]

Thanks for the helpful video. I also just want to give it up the dev team for being so willing to add accessibility features of all different sorts so as many people as possible can play.

[@fuzzystomach2088]

I've been using some of these settings since watching this video Zak and it has been so much more enjoyable using auto walk and one click looting, so thank you for revealing these to us. I thought perhaps in the future you could do another settings video maybe sharing useful keybinds if you use any, or just other general things that may be worth knowing about?

[@BladesTLD]

Great stuff as always, Zak!

[@brendo9103]

Butterfly clicking on wolf attacks is the fastest for me. Helpful vid keep it up

[@isaaco5679]

Ive switched to contextual, i find it increases immersion and makes everything feel more intense!

[@kirksteven4316]

Always learning new things about the game... Thanks ZAK

[@Thevideofish85]

Wow, I am so glad I watched this video specifically for the note about the eating and drinking sound fx filter. The ONLY thing I hate about the long dark are those sound fx and every time I hear it it makes my skin crawl lol. Not anymore!

[@bacardimonk]

On a side note, IF you want to improve your in game experience in TLD, I would suggest Using Mods, there are some great mods out there that add things that should already be in the game. "Ambient Lights" is an absolute must have as it better reflects what Natural light would be like through windows at different times and outside weather conditions. "Fire Pack" is also a must have for me because it adds in a Bow Drill Set. The other Mod I would consider is "Jods Camping Tools" which I have a love hate relationship with as an Interloper only player it adds some fantastic craftables(Scrap Metal Shard, Tarp Tent and Hunters tent and Tanning Racks) to the game that really should have been in base game but also adds some unnecessary Items as well.

[@deners84]

Super helpful! Thanks!

[@KrynexYT]

As always great video Zak

[@shawnhill2247]

I love your long dark gaming content ❤️

[@mesaratz22]

never knew any of them... it has started to make my game a bit easier that's for sure... Many thanks

[@dpfavchan3274]

Thank you for another very useful video. Turns out I can add another phobia to my list :)

[@Lithar1987]

I've always had the impression that wolf struggling with a press and hold is much easier, than quick clicking. I also suggest setting terraint details density to 0 in Quality, it will be nice to see all cat tails without other grasses or birch bark on the ground, e.g. in a birch forest with PV

[@Zaknafein]

I would have to check the datafile, but if memory serves then with standard clothing you took on average 70% dmg with hold and 40% with click. Some such - holding was way worse.

[@shakur9096]

Thank you ✌🏼

[@marygatdula2744]

I found this helpful! I never even tried to fight back against the wolf because I just can't hit the key fast enough, so I just pretty much sit back and take the beating. LOL Maybe I will be a little better off now. So THANK YOU! And that "auto walk" will allow me to play for longer periods! My fingers and wrists get to killing me after a while!

[@samblack5313]

Auto walk needs an indicator on screen to let you know when it is on.

[@rustyshackleford3316]

I like hearing the eating noises.

[@j.s.c.4355]

here’s a topic I would enjoy you doing a short video on sometime. I recently got killed by a bear and the reason I got killed is because I could not get away from the bear. The same bear attacked me three times in such quick succession that I could barely even get my self bandaged. I’ve had that happen more than once. And you can’t fight back against bears, so what is there for you to do about them if you accidentally run into a bear. Honestly, the last time it happened is when I decided I need to take a break from the game, and I haven’t played since.

[@rustyaxe155]

Did you crouch right after the attack? If you do the bear won’t aggro again unless you stand up or shoot it

[@knurlgnar24]

That has happened to me multiple times too - very frustrating. I think it's because I was carrying around a lot of meat/guts/etc, which is why the bear got me in the first place. The bear sometimes turns around and attacks you again before you can even stop the blood loss, and sometimes it just keeps walking away giving you gobs of time to get away. That's my untested theory anyway. If I remember to next time this happens I'm going to immediately drop all my decoys BEFORE I stop the blood loss and see if that helps.

[@Huliaho]

Try lighting a flare or starting a fire if you have the ability.

[@curtismantle]

I did the exact same thing as Atheenon and fell off The Trestle with Auto Walk on. I was 49 days into my run and one day away from the Silent Hunter achievement I was going for. Gutted.

[@alexkarlsson660]

4:08 butterfly clicking has entered the chat 4:15 laughs in minecraft player

[@pipp972]

Autowalk is a timesaver and tendonsaver, but jesus, don't use it when you need careful positioning!

[@Flaming_mark]

Do you guys know if bearcoat still spawns on interloper in ash canyon since the release of DLC??? They changed alot of stuff (for example removed maches in FM in the forge. Moreover they rebuilt loot tables and made them more luck based i guess.) i started 4 interloper runs with ash canyon start and made it to wolf's jaw. But bear coat havent spawned not a single time. I guess they removed it

[@Zaknafein]

My understanding is that it still spawns, but is now very rare

[@Flaming_mark]

@@Zaknafein ok thanks for reply Zak

[@generallooch8665]

The long walk

[@HiroshimaXl]

Idk how people survive without auto walk

[@austincod21]

Contextual for me is perfect ive gotten into the habit of just checking my meters when i think i need to The game looks so better to me this way Plus hinterland needs not show your healthbar if you have frostbite One of my characters rn has it and my healthbar is on the screen always and i wish it wasn't

[@listopadovsergey8008]

agree with u totally

[@roblaurizo2181]

Dang it, I was looking for graphics settings. I have everything on max, but experience some blurriness around edges (like when you have headache in the game, but this is in normal conditions). I don't know if it is design choices... they like the little rainbows on edges of sticks, stones etc? Or if there is some secret graphics setting trick. EDIT: It's chromatic aberration, but I don't see it in your games...

[@Elephant_Juice74]

How does that cinematic mod work? Can it be used to help learn the maps for us slow people? 😊

[@Zaknafein]

Yes, but an easier mod for that is the Dev Console, where you can fly around quickly.

[@austincod21]

Console players dont forgot about the 60 fps option

[@jasonmurray5902]

I like to listen for nearby wolves and bears so I turn music and character dialog off.

[@bluesonicstreak7317]

I have misophonia; it's not a phobia, it's more like an EXTREME sensitivity to specific sounds (like chewing). They just INTENSELY stress me out or make me intensely angry in a way that is hard to control. Basically, certain small sounds will trigger a fight-or-flight reflex in certain people. Nobody knows what causes it. I pretty much cannot eat with other people unless it's in a loud restaurant that will drown out the noise; otherwise, it's like being continuously jabbed in the side of the head. Cannot take it. The chewing sounds in the TLD are pretty brief though, so I've not had too many issues, they're only mildly annoying. It's nice of Hinterland to include the option to turn them off, though. Didn't know that was there. (Weirdly, none of this applies to animals. Animals nom-noming...not bothersome at all, and THEIR smacking and chewing is cute. No idea why it only extends to human chewing.)

[@Zaknafein]

Thank you for your comment. I dont know much about misophonia, but I am a psychologist, so after your comment I had a look at the research state of it. It seems the most common explanation is that the cause is an abnormal overprocessing sounds in brain areas associated with fight or flight. So its a neurological cause, unlike phobia which is typically psychological. Thank you for your comment and hope you are well!

[@bluesonicstreak7317]

@@Zaknafein You're a psychologist? Haha, that jives so well with your recording style being so chill. Thanks for your videos man.

[@user-kz8zr4si3i]

Sounds like you might benefit from a little bit of Prozac, as a treat

[@bluesonicstreak7317]

@@user-kz8zr4si3i Wtf are you talking about, you don't treat misophonia with Prozac.

[@mattw5378]

Hey bro, are you actually a psychologist? That’s pretty cool!

[@Zaknafein]

Yes :) Thanks!

[@Landern11]

the auto run being turned off by default pissed me off.

[@Jaketsu101]

Playing with max fov makes game look better(my option). Try it out if you like

[@Rand_Althor1966]

Great video my friend. lol the Long Walk is my favorite Stephen King story. Lots of love buddy

[@Joe-3.]

can i change which button i can press in a struggle?

[@Zaknafein]

Yes in key bindings

[@Joe-3.]

@@Zaknafein strange, because i couldn’t seem to find it… thanks for the reply though, you truly are dedicated to helping your fanbase.

[@titanicgirl774]

My game refuses to show my character on the map, even though I selected for it to do so in settings. Is that just how the game is or a glitch? Anyone else experienced that?

[@Zaknafein]

On story mode, right? This feature is disabled on Survival.

[@titanicgirl774]

@@Zaknafein you are right. I didn’t make the connection. Apologies for wasting your time.

[@werenothing8425]

Brouh ? Where is the 27? and I wanna know that Is there anybody playing like u ? tw or yt. Thx Zak , u know I've bad eng

[@Zaknafein]

27 this weekend. I dont know others who play and narrate like me, but there are many players who are great at this game. Check out kimiota, WonzAndOnly, BladesCJ, Atheenon, Tomasina and many others.

[@werenothing8425]

@@Zaknafein got it . Thank you

[@user-bz9py7yy8j]

i tap 11 cps so i think i got this

[@commentforthealgorithm]

comment for the algorithm

[@recarsion]

I hate the spam click struggles actually. I wish they made Press & Hold more efficient. It's just weird to have to think about something like click speed in a game like this. It's not an RTS or FPS, better outcomes shouln't depend on being physically faster.

[@Govanification]

Might be considered cheating but some people use a program to simulate repeated keypresses on a dedicated struggle key for this game, where you can set the repeat frequency to something reasonable.

[@naka6r1p]

I somehow found a way that if i get into a wolf struggle, I never get blood loss or much clothing damage, and i can kill a wolf just by getting a hatchet and stabbing it, then following the blood trail or crow noises until i find the dead wolf. I may make my own video on that soon.

[@tamarackgaming]

I've tried a few mods, but yeah. Ended up just going back to vanilla. Level of Detail is one setting I would recommend new players turning way down until they get used to the game. The art and graphics in this game is astounding but it does help if you get rid of the ground clutter so you can easily see important stuff rather than grass and random vegetation that isn't cattails. Helps when you are going to stone a rabbit, 'Is that the rabbit or just the wind moving a clump of grass....' [Edit] And Autowalk is just a quick way to end your run.

[@anttt7993]

Streamers are so cringey and fake.

[@NielsMulvad]

I would have thought you used an auto clicker for the struggles. I am against anything that forces you to mash a key, partly because it is bad for you, but it is also bad for your mouse and keyboard. Auto clicker and you get the same result as if you killed your button (and finger). Also Denmark (Norway) > Sweden

[@tamarackgaming]

I use an auto clicker. Set to .333 so I get 3 clicks per second. Pretty much the same if I spam the mouse.

[@NielsMulvad]

@@tamarackgaming Yep, it is quite easy to set up and worth it. I do this in any game that has clicking mechanics like this, because I don't want to bust m mouse (I have to this date, done it 3 times... waste of money).

[@tamarackgaming]

@@NielsMulvad the only downside is when I forget to turn it off before I re-equip the revolver. There is 6 shots gone 🤣

[@marygatdula2744]

​@tamarackgaming Can you tell me what or how to use or do this? I have a game that requires me to press Q a million times in a struggle. I always die because I just can't do it fast enough (too old, LOL). I can't play that game because of that.😢 9:32

[@NielsMulvad]

@@tamarackgaming ... lol. I have not done that yet. Does it effect how fast it shoots? The animations should still be a natural limiter. Because if not, you should have time to cancel the auto clicker. I usually have it both key bound, and the clicker command open on my 2nd monitor, so I can force it to stop if something happens.