Custom Game Settings

Learn how to craft your perfect Blackfrost: The Long Dark II experience with our Custom Game Settings guide. Tweak everything from day length to wildlife.

Alright, so you're ready to dive into _The Long Dark_ but want to tweak things a bit? That's where the Custom mode comes in. Think of it as your personal sandbox to build the exact survival experience you're looking for, whether that's a bit easier or way, way harder than the standard modes. It's like having a toolbox to craft your own adventure. ## Custom Settings When you start a Custom game, you get to play god with over 50 different variables. You can adjust: * How fast your hunger, thirst, cold, and need for rest kick in. * How much the wind changes and what kind of weather you'll see. * How often those spooky Auroras light up the sky. * Animal behavior – how often they spawn, how easily they spot you, and even if you want passive wildlife. * The quality and quantity of loot you find, both out in the open and in containers. * How much damage you take from wolf struggles. * Which Afflictions can actually bother you. * Whether to enable dangerous critters like Cougars or the dreaded Scurvy. * You can even have up to 5 active Feats. * And there's the 'Endless Night' option, which is pretty intense – you'll need to beat the 'Escape The Darkwalker' Challenge to unlock it. * Plus, tons of other little tweaks! ### Length of Day Multiplier This one's pretty cool. It messes with how time passes in the game. If you set it to x4, you can travel four times as far before a day ends compared to the normal 1x setting. It makes the world feel like it's moving in slow motion. Here's the breakdown: 1. Movement: Your character and wildlife still move at normal speed. It's everything else that slows down. 2. Time Passage: Stuff like passing time to sleep or craft still takes the same real-world time, but the in-game clock ticks slower relative to everything else. It's subtle at first, but you'll notice it. 3. Needs & Decay: This is where it really shines. Your hunger, thirst, and cold meters drain way slower with a higher multiplier. Items also decay less quickly. For example, at x4, you could travel 4 miles in-game and only experience the Frostbite Risk build-up as if you'd traveled 1 mile at 1x. This can make the game much more forgiving, as you won't need to hoard as much food or worry constantly about Afflictions. The downside? Healing Afflictions takes *much* longer, and the game can feel less challenging. 4. Actions: When you start an action, like sleeping for 8 hours or crafting, time speeds up normally for that duration, just like in a 1x game. ## Common Custom Options The community has come up with some popular custom setups. You might hear terms like: * Gunloper: Basically Interloper mode, but with firearms enabled. A real challenge! * Deadman: Interloper without passive healing and no Birch Bark Tea. Brutal, similar to the 'As the Dead Sleep' challenge. * Birchman: Like Deadman, but Birch Bark Tea is allowed. * Deadworld: All live animal spawns are turned off. Peaceful, but still dangerous. * NOGOA (No One Gets Out Alive): This is a specific custom setup that's set to the harshest settings possible, spawning you at midnight in a blizzard. The code is 8sHM-/z8P-Dz+3-QZym-XQIC if you're brave enough. * Outerloper: You play Interloper, but you're not allowed to enter any buildings. It's a self-imposed rule. ## Custom Difficulty Customization Options When you go to create a custom game, you can pick a preset difficulty (like Pilgrim, Voyageur, Stalker, or Interloper) and then tweak it further. Here's a quick look at how those presets stack up: | DIFFICULTY | PILGRIM | VOYAGEUR | STALKER | INTERLOPER | | :--------- | :------ | :------- | :------ | :--------- | | GAME START | | | Baseline resource availability | Very High | High | Medium | Low | | Starting time of day | Noon | Random | Random | Random | | Starting weather | Clear | Random | Random | Random | | Indoor spawns permitted | Yes | Yes | No | No | | Survivor monologue | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | | ENVIRONMENT | | | Length of day multiplier | 1x | 1x | 1x | 1x | | Weather variability | Low | Medium | High | Very High | | Blizzard frequency | Low | Medium | High | Very High | | World gets colder over time | None | Low | Medium | High | | Wind variability | Medium | Medium | Medium | Medium | | Aurora frequency | Medium | Medium | Medium | Medium | | Fire overcomes ambient air temp | Yes | Yes | No | No | | Endless night (v1.83) | No | No | No | No | | HEALTH | | | Calorie burn rate | Low | Medium | High | Very High | | Thirst rate | Low | Medium | Medium | High | | Fatigue rate | High | High | High | Medium | | Freezing rate | Low | Medium | High | Very High | | At-rest condition recovery rate | High | High | High | Medium | | Condition recovery rate | High | High | High | Medium | | Hypothermia recovery time | Low | Medium | High | Very High | | Frostbite rate | Low | Medium | High | Very High | | Cabin fever | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Intestinal parasites | No | No | Yes | Yes | | Dysentery | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Sprains | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Food poisoning | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Broken ribs | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Rest as a resource | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Scurvy - Vitamin-C drain rate | No | Medium | High | High | | Fires prevent freezing | Yes | Yes | No | No | | Wake up player when freezing near a fire | Yes | Yes | No | No | | Birch bark tea cra