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Steam News23 April 20261mo ago

Hotfix 42

Citizens have been disappearing under mysterious circumstances. One hard-boiled hotfix is on the case.

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What changed

6 fixes0 additions1 change0 removals
  • Gameplay
  • Fixes
  • Workshop
fixedCitizens have been disappearing under mysterious circumstances. One hard-boiled hotfix is on the case.
fixedGeneral UpdatesUnlikely Duo: Fixed two very rare nullref exceptions that could happen on the background LOD Calculator thread right after buildings were destroyed.
fixedGeneral UpdatesThe Very FIRST Text!?: Fixed an exception that would happen if you moused-over the top link in the "start new profile" window.
changedGeneral UpdatesPreparing For Future Steam Workshop: Reworked how the game initially sets up its working folders and such on launch so that it is now able to hook into steam workshop extremely early if need be. This allows the mod framework to be extended to work with steam workshop, while retaining its existing functionality as well.
fixedGeneral UpdatesFix To Evaporating Citizens: Fixed an issue with sheltered humans where humans could evaporate when there were even temporary housing shortages. Basically, if some folks needed to move to refugee housing for any reason, then the correct number would do so (let's say you were over cap by 2000 people, 2000 refugees would appear), but then an additional double that number would evaporate without a trace (so in that example, there would be a further 2000 people who just disappear entirely). In cases where people temporarily move to refugee housing and then right back in, this could lead to large numbers of people just vanishing without a trace.
fixedGeneral UpdatesFix To Your Own Cyberocracy Murdering Your Own Residents: Fixed an issue where if you had a budding cyberocracy on the same city tile as some of your own housing, your own sheltered humans would be mistakenly killed, invisibly and without warning. It would actually set up kind of a periodic drain on your own buildings, so more and more humans would get "disappeared" over time. This was a compound bug with some changes over time in the codebase that led to this unexpectedly.

Citizens have been disappearing under mysterious circumstances. One hard-boiled hotfix is on the case.

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Hotfix 42 Changelog

General Updates

  • Unlikely DuoFixed two very rare nullref exceptions that could happen on the background LOD Calculator thread right after buildings were destroyed.
  • The Very FIRST Text!?Fixed an exception that would happen if you moused-over the top link in the "start new profile" window.

  • Preparing For Future Total Conversions: The framework for total conversion mods (which was inherited from AI War 2, where there is the "Classic Fusion" TC mod) has been extended to match the upgraded framework that is used for normal mods in HotM.

  • Preparing For Future Steam WorkshopReworked how the game initially sets up its working folders and such on launch so that it is now able to hook into steam workshop extremely early if need be. This allows the mod framework to be extended to work with steam workshop, while retaining its existing functionality as well.
  • Fix To Evaporating CitizensFixed an issue with sheltered humans where humans could evaporate when there were even temporary housing shortages. Basically, if some folks needed to move to refugee housing for any reason, then the correct number would do so (let's say you were over cap by 2000 people, 2000 refugees would appear), but then an additional double that number would evaporate without a trace (so in that example, there would be a further 2000 people who just disappear entirely). In cases where people temporarily move to refugee housing and then right back in, this could lead to large numbers of people just vanishing without a trace.
  • Fix To Your Own Cyberocracy Murdering Your Own ResidentsFixed an issue where if you had a budding cyberocracy on the same city tile as some of your own housing, your own sheltered humans would be mistakenly killed, invisibly and without warning. It would actually set up kind of a periodic drain on your own buildings, so more and more humans would get "disappeared" over time. This was a compound bug with some changes over time in the codebase that led to this unexpectedly.
  • Fix To Undocumented Deaths In Mysterious CircumstancesFixed several cases where when sheltered humans or similar in your housing died, the reason wouldn't be stated in the recent sheltered humans list. It now notes if they were stepped on by a giant robot, or hit by chemical weapons, or the various other things that can happen.

  • Fix To Make Sure Residents Clear The Building Before It Blows: If you're destroying one of your own buildings that houses people, then it is very careful to give your own people time to move out and become abandoned humans, rather than them potentially getting caught and killed as the building comes down. I'm not positive this was happening before, but now I'm positive that it won't. Better safe than sorry!

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Full notes here.

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https://steamcommunity.com/ogg/2001070/announcements/detail/526499614836130742 https://steamcommunity.com/ogg/2001070/announcements/detail/507357952986843298 https://steamcommunity.com/ogg/2001070/announcements/detail/503978984819656003

Source

Steam News / 23 April 2026

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