Sands of Salzaar

\ Faction siege notifications have been moved to the side panel and no longer appear as interruptive pop-ups.

\ Fixed an issue where event flags could prevent Arcane skills from being learned. Flags are now set after the event finishes.

\ Fixed a issue with the Berserker's Path of Awakening skill tab.

\ Fixed an issue where the Berserker's Awakening questline would not trigger correctly.

\ Fixed an issue where NPC weapons would not update automatically.

\ Fixed a compatibility issue that prevented some mods from modifying character attributes.

\ Fixed an issue where asynchronous loading could cause some character models to become stuck on screen.

\ Fixed an issue where follower count settings could fail to apply.

Hi everyone!

With the Year of the Horse fast approaching, we would like to wish everyone a Happy New Year in advance.

Sands of Salzaar will be participating in the Year of the Horse Spring Sale! From February 12 to February 26, the base game will be available at a 60% discount (matching its historical low), and all DLCs will be 50% off.

New Story for Berserker

This story follows the Ursine tribe, whose future hangs by a thread after they are brutalized by a force even more savage than their own.

Now, as fate takes a sudden, violent turn, will he double down on this path, or will he seek a different way forward?

In-party Heroes Interactions

Added a brand-new in-party character interaction feature, giving heroes with different personalities and backgrounds completely new ways to converse.

Each character has their own story, and their relationships with one another are intricate. You can uncover these connections through their dialogues.

Backstories & Dialogues for Generated Characters

Previously, only the most renowned heroes had recorded stories. Now, many of the less important characters have their own backgrounds and personalities.

They too help bring life and color to the vast sands.

Improved the Attack Speed System

Previously, attack speed only affected the interval between your character's attacks.

We improved attack speed in a previous version, enabling it to affect heroes' basic attacks.

This time, we've taken it further: attack speed now affects most skills' fore- and backswing times as well as channeling durations.

We previously made it compatible with heroes; now, troops benefit from it too!

A Keyboard Control Mode for Combat

When using keyboard controls, movement is handled via WASD (or custom keybinds), while basic attacks are performed in place using the mouse or a bound key.

This can be enabled in the Hotkey Settings.

In the meantime, don't miss our bundle with Amazing Cultivation Simulator. You can grab both games with an extra 10% discount—the perfect chance to complete your collection!

The full patchnotes are as follows:

v1.2 Update Log

New Feature

\ Added a story arc for Berserkers, featuring three distinct story paths and all-new skill trees.

\ Added a brand-new in-party character interaction feature, giving heroes with different personalities and backgrounds completely new ways to converse.

\ Added over a hundred random backstories and dialogues for procedurally generated characters.

\ Added attack speed and reworked hundreds of skill effects. The basic attacks of heroes and troops are now affected by attack speed.

\ Added a keyboard control mode for combat on PC. This can be enabled in the Hotkey Settings.

Optimization

\ Greatly improved map loading times for much faster map switching. (Performance tests show roughly a tenfold improvement.)

\ Reworked the top UI information display to improve readability when obtaining large amounts of items.

\ Improved world map unit behavior logic, improving smoothness in late-game saves.

\ Improved the world map unit loading algorithm, reducing lag when large numbers of units appear.

\ Reworked the character pop-up dialogue UI, improving clarity and readability.

\ Restructured pathfinding and collision algorithms. This should fix issues where troops got stuck in walls and resolve other pathfinding problems.

\ Improved aura trigger checks for the user, which should reduce lag.

\ You can now rename randomized characters in the Intel menu.

\ Added a toggle for combat damage numbers in the settings, with options to customize which units' damage numbers are displayed.

\ Added a Screen Shake toggle, available under Settings.

\ The Berserker's Outburst (++++) can now be cancelled manually.

Bug Fixes

\ Fixed a bug where missing character attribute fields could prevent battles from starting, and then ultimately the game crashing.

\ Fixed an issue preventing the Tavern Girl from triggering quest prompts, which affected the Spiritmancer and Bounty Hunter main quests, among others.

\ Fixed an issue where scroll dialogues were misaligned on PC at non-16:9 resolutions.

\ Fixed a bug where character entries could appear blank when joining a faction.

\ Fixed a bug where some character action sets (e.g., hammer, harp, dual blades) lacked transition animations.

\ Fixed an issue causing skill tree lines to render incorrectly when node order was inconsistent.

\ Fixed an issue preventing auto-equipment updates for characters able to wield all weapon types.

Mod Support

\ Improved an issue where the Mod Editor UI could behave incorrectly after reloading mods.

\ Increased the amount of debug information cached in the Mod Editor UI.

\ Attempted to fix a crash that could occur when logs were refreshed via the console.

\ Now you can define how much each point in Strength, Agility, Stamina, or Spirit increases the corresponding character attributes in the initial settings.

\ Reworked the value configurations for Block, Critical Hit, and Dodge, allowing for more flexible attribute effect tuning.

\ Added new trigger types for character attribute fields.

place_add_stat_leader: Adds specified attributes to a location if the character is the location's faction leader.

place_add_stat_lord: Adds specified attributes to a location if the character is the location's Sultan.

\ Added a character attribute field [camp_永不叛乱] (never rebel), which controls whether an NPC can leave a faction or rebel due to low loyalty.

\ Added columns for randomly bound dialogues and randomly bound tags in the character template table, used to control background-matching dialogue and personality generation.

\ Added new built-in character attribute fields:

bf_无视敌兵碰撞: Ignore collisions with enemy troops.

bf_无视敌将碰撞: Ignore collisions with enemy heroes.

bf_无视己兵碰撞: Ignore collisions with friendly troops.

bf_无视己将碰撞: Ignore collisions with friendly heroes.

\ Added new in-combat queries:

[%this_buff_time:BUFF_ID%]: Returns the remaining duration of the specified BUFF_ID on the current source object. Minimum value is 0. Supports decimals. Buffs with infinite duration return 999999.

[%this_buff_time_s:BUFF_ID%]: Returns the remaining duration of the specified BUFF_ID on the current source object, same as this_buff_time, but as an integer rounded up.

[%aim_buff_time:BUFF_ID%]: Returns the remaining duration of the specified BUFF_ID on the current target object. Minimum value is 0. Supports decimals. Buffs with infinite duration return 999999.

[%aim_buff_time_s:BUFF_ID%]: Returns the remaining duration of the specified BUFF_ID on the current target object, same as aim_buff_time, but as an integer rounded up.

\ Added skill tag [ignore_dumb], which controls whether the skill can be used while silenced. Note: Skills previously using the attribute [无视沉默, 1] need to be migrated to use this tag.

\ Added channeling and casting action settings in the skill table. Prefix an action with a half-width exclamation mark "!" to allow its casting speed to be affected by attack speed (shortened or lengthened).

\ Added combat command settings in the skill table. Prefix a skill command time with a half-width exclamation mark "!" to allow its cast time to scale with attack speed.

\ Added new combat commands: block_act_atk_rat, play_sk_act_atk_rat, timeline_atk_rat, and timeline_anim_atk_rat.

These are variants of the block_act, play_sk_act, timeline, and timeline_anim commands, allowing bind duration, action playback speed, and skill command speed to scale with attack speed.

Travelers of the Desert,

We’ve received your reports about the building upgrade issue — and here comes the fix!

This update also adds a handy new Quick Sell feature to make trading smoother.

Huge thanks to everyone who took the time to report these issues to us!

v1.1.20 Update Log

• Fixed a bug that caused abnormal building upgrades.

• Added a Quick Sell feature to the selling interface.

• Fixed a bug that caused coloring issues.

Travelers of the desert,

Hi! Steam Autumn Sale is coming, and our base game is having a 60% off discount. Also, DLC4 is having a new historically low price at 50% off.

We've also launched a new patch, and here the patchnotes:

v1.1.19 Update Log

• A brand-new building interface: the entire building panel has been redesigned with improved information display.

• Dual skill bar: players can set up two different skill layouts and switch between them at any time during combat.

• New capture toggle: a setting option to enable or disable the capture feature.

• Key mapping: supports freely adjusting button positions on mobile devices.

Fixed an issue where enemies instantly killed by certain skills did not drop loot. Fixed a bug allowing the [Mercenary Guild] facility in the to be upgraded multiple times. Fixed a bug where defeating Land of the Eclipse bosses using special mechanics could prevent normal loot drops.

Basic Game

\ Increased the limit on auto-generated random NPCs and added an option to toggle random NPC generation. This can be adjusted in Settings → Game.

\ Added an option to change the game difficulty in Settings → Game.

\ Resolved a bug where entering battle with more than 255 combat skills caused the game to freeze.

\ Fixed a bug where persuading a captive with a full party could cause the captive to disappear.

\ Fixed an issue where recruited characters could join the team in a broken or glitched state.

\ The in-game configuration file IntvalConfigs.xlsx is now re-enabled, allowing mods to add options to the Settings menu.

Tournament DLC

\ Fixed a bug where players would sometimes enter Tournament matches with troops.

The Eclipse Hive DLC

\ Improved the layout of the Land of the Eclipse's equipment forging interface.

\ Adjusted difficulty selection so the lowest difficulty now starts at Normal.

\ Reduced the materials required to forge advanced equipment.

\ Increased drop rates for Land of the Eclipse materials, with higher difficulties yielding more rewards.

\ Fixed a bug where loading a save after challenging a Land of the Eclipse boss could cause the boss to appear with zero HP and MP.

\ Fixed a bug where defeating Land of the Eclipse bosses using special mechanics could prevent normal loot drops.

Child Rearing DLC

\ Fixed a rare bug that caused heir character models to have incorrect genders.

\ Fixed a bug where heir characters could spawn in the wrong location when entering the sandbox world.

Dear Desert Travelers,

In this update, we’re introducing a new feature: randomly generated NPCs, along with new talents related to captives.

Once the “Execution” feature is enabled and the game progresses, players who prefer a swift and decisive approach may find that some factions don’t even have anybody left. To prevent this situation, we’ve designed a new automatic NPC generation system. The generated NPCs will come with different skillsets and outfits based on the starting region of their faction.

As the months tick by, the world will once again bustle with life no matter how many NPCs you execute. However, newly generated NPCs are based on models and might only have access to a few set talents and skill pages, meaning that they'll be inferior to the original NPCs.

V1.1.14 Update Log

• Added new talents related to Captives.

• Added a character creation system that populates different regions and factions with randomly generated NPCs.

• Added a character avatar coloring system, allowing color customization for certain components:

• Male avatars: two new dyeable hair styles and two dyeable clothing items.

• Female avatars: one new dyeable hair style and two dyeable clothing items.

0328Update Log

1. Improved combat pathfinding: Units now prioritize moving in squads, reducing CPU load for path calculations and resolving terrain issues that previously caused units to get stuck.
2. Fixed script compatibility issues with certain older mods, reducing the likelihood of mod failures due to script conflicts.
3. Optimized battlefield wall models in the Siege and Conquest DLC: Walls now become semi-transparent when players approach to reduce visual obstruction.
4. Fixed recruitment bug in the Child Rearing DLC: In some cases, grown-up offspring and their mothers could not be properly recruited.
5. Added a visibility condition column for scenario-based mods files, allowing control over whether a scenario appears as available.
6. Fixed translation errors in the English and Korean version of The Ember Saga DLC related to inheritance mechanics.

Travelers of the desert,

We've just released a new update, introducing enhancements to the Captives system along with numerous bug fixes. Oh, and we're running the Winter Promotion on Sands of Salzaar—now available at its lowest price ever for the next two weeks!

New Feature of Captive system

• Accommodation for Captives: You can now configure food rations and healing for both heroes and soldiers. Proper rations help captives replenish health, increasing your success rate when recruiting them. However, a lack of food—while boosting recruitment success—can harm their health.

• Chiefs from various tribes may now approach you to request the release of their captives.

• If a dungeon containing captives is breached, the captives will either be released or captured by enemy forces.

• Captives in your squad now have a chance to escape if you exceed the limit.

• Adjusted the probability rates for taking captives.

• Adjusted the probability rates for capturing heroes.

• Adjusted resource rewards for releasing captives.

Optimization and Adjustment

Added Financial Statistics: A new UI feature (top-right corner) displays daily and weekly income/expenditure details. For tribal chiefs, the treasury's funds will also be visible. Treasury Management Menu: A portion of your faction's revenue will now be automatically added to your treasury. You can customize this ratio to suit your strategy. Adjustment: There is now a maximum limit for captives. Exceeding this limit gives the captives a chance to escape. Adjustment: Products bought at varying prices will now stack automatically. The unit price will recalculate based on the total cost.

Mods:

Translation Support: Added support for creating translation-type mods for both the game and open-source mods.

Fixes:

Fixed a bug with EXP acquisition. Fixed a bug where certain story NPCs dropped gear after battle. Fixed a bug where gift-giving would sometimes malfunction.

DLC Update Logs

Child Rearing DLC - Update Log:

1. Fixed a bug where duplicate quests could occasionally appear for the same heir.
2. Merged interaction options with your heir/better half under [About our relationship].
3. Successfully wooed characters (without DLC-specific methods) will now unlock DLC interactions through [About our relationship] and grant you the rings.
4. The Heir's skill page is now an Heir-exclusive one.
5. Children born of a female protagonist will now inherit your skills.
6. Fixed a bug where some quests incorrectly applied attribute gains to the female protagonist instead of the heir.

The Eclipse Hive DLC - Update Log

• Added the localization regarding to the Mastigure Adventurers quest.

• Fixed a bug where completing the [Lava Void] instance didn't reward Eclipse Clues.

• Fixed a bug where repeatedly loading a save file impacted Eclipse Clue drop rates.

• Increased Eclipse Clue drop rates.

• Fixed a bug where the [Mutant Grunt] (a Land of the Eclipse boss) could unexpectedly die when using [Surging Blood].

• Allies now follow the protagonist after defeating a Land of the Eclipse boss to prevent obscuring loot.

• Updated some Land of the Eclipse weapon models.

• Added Eclipse-specific crafting materials, usable for gear crafting at the Adventurer of the Mastigure Council.

• [Sanskrit Shura Necklace]: Supplemented a missing description.

• [Bloodsteel Armor/True Bloodsteel Armor]: Reduced the active skill's Reflect damage to (Physical Attack x 1 + Strength x 2), down from (Physical Attack x 2.5 + Strength x 5).

• [Tricolor Gem Armor/Spring's Boon]: Fixed 'when hit' effects triggering other passives.

• [Amber Snake Eye/Emerald Snake Eye]: Fixed missing cooldowns for their skills.

• [Light Phantom Gauze/Crimson Phantom Gauze]: Fixed issues with evade chances.

• [Fists of the Sands/Dunerift Fists]: Fixed issue with negative status effect and stun chances.

• [Sanskrit Vicissitude Wizal]: Fixed the 95% Arcane/Physical attack reduction not taking effect after Sanskrit: Reserve shield expired.

Ember Workshop DLC - Update Log

• Improved mod compatibility.

• Fixed a bug where some dialogue text didn't display correctly.

• Enhanced Magic Dust grinding—you can now select multiple items at once.

• Fixed a bug where search events could be triggered after entering an instance while on the quest.

• Ember Ocher will now match the protagonist's level when joining the team during the [Final Battle] quest.

• Added resource rewards to the [Transmigration of Ember]'s Heir page to balance its cost-effectiveness.

• Improved performance for certain story segments.

Tournament DLC - Update Log:

Fix: Fixed a bug where enemy heroes could drop their gear.

If you have encountered any issue, please feel free to contact us through our official Discord channel https://discord.gg/xdindie!

• Increased the number of days NPC leaders take to return once exiled, as they are now exiled deeper into the desert.

[Bug Fixes]

• Fixed a bug that made players unable to speak with the Blacksmith.

• Fixed a bug related to Resolution settings.

• Fixed a bug where recruiting minions didn't deduct recruitment attempts.

• Fixed a bug where the Ransom Broker sometimes forgot to take captive heroes with him.

• Fixed a bug where NPC leaders would always fail when recruiting generals. NPCs now provide generals with higher remuneration, meaning that they will be able to attract more generals.

• Fixed a bug where the same character sometimes appeared in the party and captives tabs at the same time.

• Fixed a bug where captives would refuse to proceed to the desert when exiled. There's now someone to oversee that the captives are indeed exiled.

• Fixed a bug where captives could also be taken during dungeon and text battles.

• Fixed several issues with the writing/text.

• Fixed an issue where characters recruited from among captives couldn't be sent out.

• Fixed a display bug for towers summoned by players.

• Fixed a bug where combat didn't grant experience.

• Fixed a bug where the tournament couldn't be started.

• Fixed a bug where players couldn't enlist active forces.

Travelers of the desert: It's been a while!

We've mentioned in a previous update preview that we would add a new feature: Captives. It's been under development for a while now, and we're happy to announce that it's going live with this patch!

In the current build, once you defeat an enemy army, they will be able to rebuild a large army in just a few days and begin attacking you anew, which has led to overly frequent battles in the late game. Plus, war has been the only means with which to annihilate your foes once and for all. Thus, we've thought of adding the Captives mechanic to enable players to make captives of the enemy's wounded units.

If you want to learn more about the ins and outs of the new feature, or if you have any questions or worries, feel free to check out these two development journals where we go into greater detail and answer a few common questions.

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1094520/view/4041486102480343224 https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1094520/view/4211502058701959226

What's more, the game is on sale at a price equal to our historical lowest price point for two whole weeks on all platforms. This new update will hit mobile devices in two days.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1094520/_/

Sep 06 Update Log

●Addition: Captives Feature Upon being victorious in combat, you make captives of the enemy's wounded units, with a chance to make NPCs your captives. There is a cap for how many Captive Squads you can have, and upon exceeding this cap, you have a 30% each day to lose 1-5 captives. However, should you fall in battle, the enemy may also lay claim to your heroes and soldiers.

You can check any NPCs and units you've captured by tapping the Captives tab in the Party menu. Here you may choose to either Convert or Release captives. NPCs and soldiers are converted differently, however. Once a few days have passed, you receive Conversions, with which you can convert selected soldiers.

NPCs take a longer time to convert and comprise several phases: during each conversion you converse with them, having a chance to progress onto the next conversion phase (this also triggers a cooldown). Complete several of these phases successfully to convert an NPC. Please be noted that the function of auto-generating NPCs based on event won't be on live until next patch.

●Addition: Dungeon We've added the to the town, where captured heroes will be imprisoned. You can choose to either retrieve captives for a cost or—attempt a jailbreak. However, there might be a price to pay for jailbreaks, successful or not, so proceed with caution!

●Addition: Ransom Broker We've added a new merchant character too, the Ransom Broker, who will conduct a new form of business: the trading of captives.

●We've reworked the Settings menu and added more quality options. ●Support for different resolutions has also been added. ●Fix: Fixed a bug where the Yaya DLC character's skills could lead to limitless health or instant death. ●Fix: Fixed an issue where ordering a character in a city owned by another faction would also cause that faction's units to deploy.

If you have encountered any problem, feel free to join our Discord to get in touch! Our managers will try their best to help you out.

Hi Travellers,

Today we just released V.1.0.20, in this version we have fixed some bugs and wrong settings in the tournament, and we have also made progress in debugging the crash issue. Apologize for any inconvenience caused to those who encountered these problems before. If you still encounter similar issues in the new version, please feel free to leave a comment below and we will try to address them as soon as possible.

we will continue to identify and address the crash issues that have been reported by our community. However, some of these issues may involve adjustments to the underlying code, which may take some time to resolve. Please be assured that we are working hard to fix these issues.

Update log for version 1.0.20:

• Fixed the issue of game crashes for some players on the character selection screen.
• Optimized the opening CG video and added it back to the game.
• Further optimized the loading process to address the issue of game crashes.
• Fixed the issue of incorrect team arrangements caused by the addition of certain characters in the Arena
• Fixed the functional bug caused by allowing two players to participate in the Arena in DLC2
• Fixed the issue of players being able to receive rewards for watching the Arena battles in DLC2
• Fixed the issue of wrong translation in some newly added equipment in DLC2.

We have also noticed that some passive skills and functional skills still have issues with triggering and usage. We will address these problems in the next version, which will be released next week.

If you meet bugs in the course of play, you can leave a comment below or join our Discord channels. We will quickly look into them and try fixing them in future updates!(https://discord.gg/xdindie) channels or fill in this bug report form for submission. We will quickly look into them and try fixing them in future updates!

Hi Travellers,

The v1.0.18 version is out. In this patch, we have fixed and adjusted some of the issues that could be quickly addressed, including [DLC2 Opening time adjustment], [DLC2 UI BUG Fix], and other lingering bugs

We know that there are still many aspects that need to be polished and repaired in the current version, especially after the DLC update. we will closely monitor feedback from the community and continue to improve the version. And in next week's update, we will make another overall improvement to the skills section.

v.1.0.18 update log:

• Fixed the situation where DLC2 would unexpectedly cause the interface to freeze
• Optimized and adjusted the weapons in DLC2
• DLC2 opening time adjustment, in the current patch, when first entering the game, tournament-opening information will pop up on the right-middle side, and the competition will take place 6 natural days later.
• Optimized skill - Sand Barrier description
• Optimized skill - Dust description
• Optimized skill - Unruly Taunt description
• Optimized skill - Grizzly Stature description
• Optimized skill - Golden Balance description
• Optimized skill - Law of Using Gold description
• Optimized skill - White Rose Shield description

If you meet bugs in the course of play, you can leave a comment below or join our Discord channels. We will quickly look into them and try fixing them in future updates!(https://discord.gg/xdindie) channels or fill in this bug report form for submission. We will quickly look into them and try fixing them in future updates!