A new hotfix for The Blood of Dawnwalker is live, and it removes a bright red pipe that the developer says it was never supposed to use in the first place. The update also stops dead characters from starting conversations, which the patch notes describe as a fix for “Dead NPCs can no longer start dialogues.”
Developer Rebel Wolves rolled out hotfix 1.0.4 on Steam today. The patch improves stability, fixes several quest progression blockers, and resolves an issue that stopped players from saving the game. It also addresses a controller problem tied to outdated GameInput software that caused FPS drops.
The case of the red pipe
The pipe in question became a small piece of internet fame last week. Players found a bright red placeholder asset in the game, clearly marked with the text “Do not use this asset!”
Somebody used it anyway.
The hotfix notes confirm the change with a single line: “We are no longer using that one red pipe asset we weren’t supposed to use.”
The removal is a bit of a shame, honestly. Placeholder assets that slip into a finished game have a charm to them. They are a kind of digital monument — a thing players find, screenshot, post to Reddit, and tell their friends about. “I saw that thing. I was there.”
The pipe was that kind of discovery, and now it is gone.
Talking corpses and other fixes
The chatty dead were a separate issue. Conversational corpses are almost always upsetting, and not just because the dead should not speak. They never have anything good to say. A conversation with the recently departed is rarely a happy recap of how well everything is going.
There is one example of talking dead that were not entirely bad. Atomic Heart is full of them, a side effect of that game’s alternate-history Soviet technology, and most of the talking dead there are reasonably cool about it. But that is more of a “fading echoes” thing than a body that will not die, which would probably lead to more philosophical exchanges.
The full patch notes for hotfix 1.0.4 cover a lot of ground. The gameplay section fixes a tutorial blocker if Voracious Bite was used too fast, stops Coen from getting stuck inside certain houses, and lets Crake talk to Coen during his training sequence. Dead NPCs can no longer start dialogues, and torches can no longer grow uncontrollably.
The quest fixes are extensive. Ocha will no longer attack Coen when guards attack him. A cave in the “Deep Down” quest no longer traps Coen. Murohn will spawn properly under certain circumstances. One solution for the “Hive and Seek” quest no longer ends prematurely. The “On the Run” quest no longer causes infinite loading. “A Lone Wolf’s Hunt” now shows the difficulty level correctly. A soft-lock after following Sara is fixed. Investigating the rag is now optional in the “Smoke and Ashes” quest. The “The Heart Wants What It Wants” quest has a blocker removed.
The art and audio sections are smaller but still notable. Coen and Iorgu will now drink from their cups even on low graphical settings. Music will no longer stop playing in the prologue. The plugin section fixes VSync issues when using FSR Frame Generation.
The update is live on Steam now. Anyone playing The Blood of Dawnwalker on PC can grab it.
The hotfix covers the stability, gameplay, quest, art, audio, miscellaneous, and plugin categories.
| Category | Notable Fix |
|---|---|
| Gameplay | Dead NPCs can no longer start dialogues |
| Quest | “On the Run” no longer causes infinite loading |
| Art | Red pipe asset removed |
| Audio | Music no longer stops in the prologue |
| Miscellaneous | Torches can no longer grow uncontrollably |
The hotfix is a routine update with an unusual headline. Most patches fix bugs quietly. This one also removed a pipe that was never supposed to be there, and that is the kind of mistake players will remember long after the stability improvements fade.
Source: pcgamer.com
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