Ultimate Surviving The Long Dark Guide

The Ultimate Guide For The Long Dark. From Weather Predicting, to Weight Management, This Guide Will Cover it All.
Feel free to suggest any more topics for the guide as I will be updating it frequently.

Keep in mind this guide is more for beginners, and that veteran players will most likely not learn much/anything at all.

Difficulties

Starting off with the difficulties, each one provides a different experience.

The easiest one is obviously Pilgrim, where wildlife will not attack you unless provoked, weather is forgiving, and resources are easy to obtain.

As the difficulties progress starting with voyager, wildlife attacks, weather is difficult, and supplies are most difficult to obtain.

Weight management and rationing becomes more difficult as the difficulties go on, so be careful with choosing what experience you choose.

Looting

Coming up next with looting, which includes canned goods, tools, water, fire supplies, and more.

Keep in mind of which buildings provide more loot, which are the bigger ones (Which may be obvious). However, smaller towns also provide lots of loot with their many buildings, such as the coastal townsite in Coastal Highway.

Before going out to loot, keep in mind to take as little supplies as necessary. This means only taking 1-2 canned goods, 1-2 water bottles, light clothing (which will be later in the guide), and not many tools.










As you're looting always make sure to open cars completely. This includes going in the backseat, and opening the trunk. Trunks have a high chance of having useful loot, such as ammunition, tools, and high quality clothing.










When looting actual buildings, check under the beds (which may be obvious) because there is a high chance of there being canned goods under them.










When looking at canned food/goods, take note of it's quality. The quality of canned goods can be seen at the right. When it's quality is low, it will hardly fill you up however keep in mind it will always give you the amount of calories as it says it will.

This does not apply to soda. Soda will always give you the same stats of filling you up regardless of it's quality.










When you're looting buildings always break down curtains (WITH YOUR HANDS). They will give you 1-2 cloth(s) which can be used for various things such as bandages and repairing clothing (which is very important).










When inside buildings, take note that toilets and water basins are excellent sources of water. They can provide up to a full gallon of water for instant taking. Do this as long as possible so you won't waste fire supplies on melting snow and boiling it.










Always take storm lanterns! They are extremely useful! Even if you already have one... This is because the ones you pick up always come with fuel inside of them already, and you don't want to waste metal scraps on repairing a storm lantern. Even if a storm lantern's quality is only 20%, it will be able to last about an hour of real-time gameplay before it breaks.










Coffee and Tea are some of your best friends, just like in real life. It is a drag to heat them up in a fire, however, coffee is amazing. It temporarily increases your fatigue bar, and quenches thirst. If it's hot, then it will increase your body temperature as well. Tea can be used medically.









When going to places you want to loot, try to memorize what hills you can and cannot climb. Climbing hills can get you to looting spots quicker and more efficiently however if it's too steep you won't be able to climb up it. This is an example of a hill you can climb.










Don't get lost! If it's foggy out and you can't navigate, it's a good idea to retrace your steps. If it's snowing and you're completely lost, try to take note of where you are and move to the nearest shelter.

Fishing

Fishing is a great source of food, however it takes time in a sandbox world to master. It will take time for your person to be able to catch high quality fish again and again.

Metal scraps can be used in crafting to make hooks, and cured guts can be made into fishing line.
Together they can make a fishing tackle. Keep in mind that fishing tackles will run out of durability relatively fast, so take more than 2 if you're planning on fishing for a long time.










Fishing can be done in almost all fishing huts found out on ice.










Once entered inside, you will need a tool to break the ice in a fishing hole in order for it to operate. Do NOT use a hunting knife. Use a crowbar/prybar if possible.










Keep in mind that fishing huts will sometimes have fishing supplies so you don't have to craft multiple using your resources.

Blizzards

Coming into weather sections, let's talk about blizzards. They can be dangerous so knowing how to navigate them is something to master.

If you find yourself far from shelter when a blizzard hits, firstly stay calm, take out your storm lantern for extra light and warmth, take note of your location, and get to the nearest shelter.










If you find yourself in the middle of a blizzard at night, proceed the same steps except keep in mind your vision is going to be even more limited.

Weather Predicting

Predicting weather is extremely important and can be a matter of life or death depending on your difficulty you're playing on.

If it is a clear sky with no winds, it should be an easy day for exploring/everyday activities.










If it is windy, be cautious. Take note if there is light snowfall as well. If there is, a blizzard could be on it's way!

If there is only light/heavy snowfall, just be cautious of wind picking up. If the wind is gradually picking up, a blizzard is coming.

Maps

In the recent update, your player has the option to create their own maps.

In order to create your map, stand in an open area, open up your quick menu, and survey the area using charcoal. Charcoal can be most commonly found on the ground or in fire barrels.



















However, if this process is too long for you, there are free maps online of the entire world, and every region.

Crafting

Crafting can give you many useful supplies. Such as earlier as we discussed, fishing supplies.
It can also give you more secure clothing, medical equipment, tools, and more.

On the left crafting is separated into 3 categories.
1)Things that are made in the forge at Desolation Point
2)Things hand made
3)Things that require tools to make

Keep in mind when a crafting item says "cured", that means that item must be stored inside a shelter until a meter reaches up to 100% cured. This is used for branches, hides, and guts.

Setting Up a Base

Setting up your base is tricky, and figuring out how/where to categorize stuff challenging to get the more efficient use out of your space.

I created a guide which can be found Here about choosing a place for your base.

To start off, you need water. And lots of it. So begin off with getting/making over 80 water bottles and storing them in your base. This much water will be able to last you 50-80 days depending on how you ration it.










After that, categorize your things on different shelves on how your inventory categorizes them. Such as fire supplies, food, water, misc., clothing, etc.

Clothing

Choosing correct clothing is difficult. You want to balance your sprint/walking speed with warmth.

Wearing all the heavy clothes for all your adventures is Not the right thing to do, like so.










Instead, wear something lighter like this for more efficient movability. Trust me, you aren't going to want to be wearing incredibly heavy clothing for only a 4 degree difference.










Keep in mind that wearing the correct clothing also comes down to weight management which will be later in the guide.

Fire Starting

Starting fires without wasting supplies is something to know.

Knowing when to make a fire and not will help you in the future majorly.
Fires can be made in fireplaces, fire barrels, and campfires.



















Note that large branches outside can be broken down to firewood. This is a main source of firewood.










When looting there are firelogs which burn for a long time.










There are many sticks outside, and you should take as much as possible (without over encumbering yourself!) because though they only burn for a short amount of time, if you add about 20 together in one fire it will last a very long time!










Always take newspaper, but never use them for tinder. Select them in your inventory, click on options for that item, and harvest. It will make 2-4 tinder plugs. Tinder plugs are very useful, so never use newspaper as tinder for you're wasting them.



















You should only make a fire if it's a matter of getting hypothermia, freezing to death, a mass cooking session, or melting water when in desperate need.
Remember tinder, fuel, and fire starters aren't unlimited. So if you're in a long haul play through, create fires only in those situations. Remember fires cannot be made in wind so strategize with the current weather which comes to weather predicting as we discussed earlier.

Weight Management

Managing your weight for picking up resources as well as keeping from over encumbering yourself is important.

When leaving your base, always make sure to leave a generous amount of room in your inventory in case you come across heavy loot, or heavy meat.

This is an example of how you don't, want to leave.









This is how you would want to leave, carrying a bare minimum of supplies for room for supplies you may pick up.

Hibernating

Hibernation is a very difficult thing to pull off for your first time. This is used to pass days when you have a large amount of supplies to burn, or just going for the day achievements.

Hibernating with canned goods

When hibernating with canned goods, make sure you have it all in your inventory, including water, and get to a bed.










Then you'll want to cycle between passing time and sleeping, while keeping an eye on your hunger and thirst bars.










Keep in mind that you don't need to drink/eat as soon as the bars are empty. Keep a close eye on your health bar on your left. As soon as it's roughly half way down, eat first, then drink.










Hibernating with meat
Before hibernation, store all your meat outside because they degrade slower outside than in your inventory while you're hibernating.










Then you'll want to cycle between passing time and sleeping, while keeping an eye on your hunger and thirst bars.










Keep in mind that you don't need to drink/eat as soon as the bars are empty. Keep a close eye on your health bar on your left. As soon as it's roughly half way down, eat first by eating your meat outside, then drink.

Breaking Things Down

Breaking down things with correct timing and tools is something to learn.

First off, if you have the option to use your hands to break something down, always use your hands. Wasting item quality on breaking items down is something you don't want to do, but have to if it doesn't give an option to use your hands.










Try to break down smaller things that require less time, such as pallets and misc.

Hunting

Hunting is something you need to know.

Using small stones are used to kill rabbits. Do not use them on other animals, because they won't work.










If you're looking for quick meat, look for crows circling in the air, because that shows a sign of a dead carcass.










Animal tracks are very useful hunting, as well as knowing what tracks are to what animal. For instance, these are wolf tracks.










Always keep in mind of bear areas, because a bear can come around a corner and kill you instantly. Knowing these areas are a matter of life and death. Unless you're hunting for bears.

[Derby Girl]

Thank You!! Very helpful

[Pete]

Thank you. Great guide

[ZOE]

Your meat will not be eaten by the animals left outside.

[NJS]

awesome guide also!

[NJS]

wount my meat get eaten by animals if i leave it outside?

[Tazz]

Very simple and straight to the point guide, very useful for a new player like myself. Thank you for sharing MillioZ

[mindfog2287]

53 hours spent in-game, 120 days survived, some 70% of the map explored, and TODAY I find out the cars have TRUNKS you can open???

[Sigourney Weaver]

pretty neat, thanks.

[FreshXiGua]

It is very useful. Thank you.