SUMMER MELTDOWN 2026

Arguably the biggest update we've ever done. No joke.

Aside from the usual new hotness that Meltdown brings, with dozens of sizzling new skins and even a new map to play on, there are some major updates to the game's code.

Inspired by the sudden influx of new players this May from the Steam sale (seriously, we broke our all-time player count record!) the programmers went into overdrive adding features that we'd often assumed were impossible. Let's look at those first...

SERVER HOSTING OVERHAUL

Just so you know, this involved some serious coding kung fu.

We've heard from many new arrivals that they'd like to run their own little matches without having to rent a server or go messing with their router. Due to the sheer demand, our lead programmer "looter" decided to take on the task.

He's been working round the clock to get this hotly requested feature into the game... we didn't think it would be possible, but he did it. All while simultaneously launching and patching a new PlayStation game.

STEAM SOCKETS SUPPORT

Primal Carnage: Extinction has migrated to a much newer version of Steamworks and by default uses the more modern Steam Sockets approach for servers. What does that mean?

ːsteamthumbsupː No more port forwarding!

ːsteamthumbsupː Servers made with Host Game now properly appear in the server browser

ːsteamthumbsupː Join player-hosted matches without modifying any router or network settings

ːsteamthumbsupː Dedicated servers also benefit with enhanced security

We still have a link to info about the port forwarding process on the Host Game menu as a precaution, just in case your network setup is out of the ordinary, but we're pretty confident about the new system. There should be no extra faffing about needed, just host, join and jump into the carnage!

FAKE IP / STEAM DATAGRAM RELAY

Community server operators, rejoice!

Running dedicated servers now defaults to using the more modern Steam Sockets integration as well, which will now obfuscate the server's real IP with a "fake IP" address. This can prevent DDOS attacks being made by malicious users from crippling your server, a valuable security upgrade.

For safety's sake, if you are already hosting a dedicated server we recommend changing its IP address in case bad actors have recorded it in the past. Fake IP will mask the server / server owner's address, but if you have been attacked before they will already have the unmasked IP.

You can also set a dedicated server to use Relay Only Mode which runs exclusively behind Valve's own Steam Datagram Relay for an additional layer of protection. It may increase latency very slightly depending on your distance to Valve's data centres, but it is an ironclad shield against attack.

BOTS FOR TDM (experimental)

Beep boop.

Bot AI has been in a state of near-readiness for some time, but needed a lot of cleanup. Well, it's spring cleaning time. Server hosts can now enable bots in Team Deathmatch mode that will fill up each team until real players join to take their slot.

Simply set this parameter on your server or add it to the command line when swapping maps:

?bAllowBots=true

Many modifications and improvements have been made to bot behaviour, fixing numerous bugs with their navigation, while also making sure they're not auto turrets with perfect aim. There are bots for all human and dino classes except Tyrants and Flyers, each have randomized names on the scoreboard as well (although they're a bit boring.. new community project maybe?)

Bots are only supported on certain maps, due to the complexity of AI navigation.

They will work on the following locations, albeit they may still get stuck sometimes:

• Airbase

• Docks

• Docks Night

• Forgotten Outpost

• Marsh

• Railyard

• TheFalls

• Utility Base

• Utility Base Night

• Verdant

We'll continue to improve bots in future patches. They are still experimental but in a much better state than before. Be sure to let us know what you think after facing them!

HOT NEW LOOKS

Sizzling style.

Another year, another round of hot new skins and mutations arriving for the summer. Check out the featured highlights below, and view all of the event content (both live and upcoming) on Trello!

We'll also have new FREE items available in the coming weeks with the return of redeemable store codes! Keep an eye on our official socials / Discord for more info.

MELTDOWN MAPS

A returning classic and a brand new killing ground...

RAILYARD TDM

A brand new Team Deathmatch map filled with hazards! The sprawling train depot is half-overgrown, yet automated trains still rush back and forth at deadly speeds. Be careful crossing the tracks!

Of course, that’s not the only danger to be found… don’t mess with the electricals down here unless you want a nasty shock!

Created in collaboration with the Primal Carnage community, Railyard TDM is the first of two maps set in this location. The second variant, a nighttime version for Evacuation (GTTC mode) will be coming later this year!

CONTINGENCY RETURNS

Push the button.

It's been a few weeks since Primal Carnage: Evolution released on PlayStation, so we thought it was high time we brought Contingency back to PCE on PC!

This version of Contingency is newly remastered with massive layout changes, much more environmental storytelling, new easter eggs and areas to explore. There are new places to seek shelter when the blast goes off, and some surprising secrets to uncover in the basement. Enjoy!

VULKAN SUPPORT

Live long and prosper.

In the process of optimizing PCE for PS4, we've made a lot of optimizations. However, being a DX9 game puts limitations on how far we can improve things with traditional methods. This patch introduces Vulkan rendering support via the DXVK platform, offering potentially transformative performance improvements to many users.

Select the new Vulkan (experimental) option when starting the game to try it out!

DXVK is a pretty marvellous piece of tech, wrapping itself around older DirectX versions as a translation layer for graphics. Depending on your hardware it can improve performance a lot or not impact it at all. Assuming your graphics card is from the last 10 years, it should support Vulkan rendering, if not then the standard D3D9 option is still the default for now.

BORDERLESS WINDOW MODE

Tab away!

For years there have been requests for this feature, which unfortunately is not natively supported out of the box by Unreal Engine 3. With this latest patch our lead programmer did some serious delving into the darkest depths of Windows app code, and we now have official support for Borderless Fullscreen!

This graphics option should make alt-tabbing much less of a hassle, and the game will remember your fullscreen mode style when using shortcuts such as Alt+Enter.

DYNAMIC ASSET LOADIING

Wanna download some extra RAM?

This patch includes a top to bottom rewrite of how the game handles cosmetic item loading.

For the last 12 years, ALL items were loaded at all times. It seemed like a good call back in 2014, we never thought that ten+ years later we would end up with 5235 items available in game, give or take. That ate up a lot of memory and server bandwidth to boot.

Our new async loading system only loads what is required, meaning PCE now uses less RAM.

This should be another win for lower end PCs and laptops, and we'll be porting the new system to PlayStation soon, where it will free up almost 1GB of memory to improve stability and performance.

Another side effect of the new setup is that players no longer need to respawn to have their customizations seen by others, a bug that has been in the game, well.. forever.

There may still be quirks to iron out with the new system, it is a major rewrite. For example, class select can be slow to load customizations currently, though skins will always apply properly upon spawning in. Please let us know if you encounter any other problems!

Patch 3.3.3

FULL CHANGELOG

• NEW Railyard TDM map

• NEW Contingency remastered map

• NEW Meltdown items

• NEW Steam Networking Socket System, benefits include:

  • seamless upgrade to modern server code which is more robust and efficient

  • servers made with Host Game should now show in the browser, no port forwarding required!

  • Relay-only mode: hides the server's real IP behind Valve secured relays to prevent DDOS

  • can set bSteamSockets=false to host the old plain-IP way if desired

• added DXVK support (Vulkan renderer over Direct3D9)

  • new experimental startup option when launching the game

  • if Vulkan not supported by GPU, falls back to traditional DX9 when selected

  • included optional DXVK performance HUD toggle

• added native support for Borderless Fullscreen window mode

  • (can be modified in Graphics menu or with the launch parameter -borderless)

• fixed HUD not scaling properly when game window size changes

• customization items are now loaded dynamically with a new asynchronus method instead of always-loaded, freeing up memory and improving performance

  • NOTE - there may be a slight delay in customizer / class select before cosmetics load

  • If a skin looks default in the customizer / class select after equipping one, spawning in will properly apply the skin.

• fixed players needing to respawn before their cosmetics were visible to others

• getting a kill using the Carno / Cerato / Pachy charge now rewards health back

• fixed Tupa special attack effects continuing to play over and over until the player respawns (if a Tupa gets killed during their divebomb attack)

• attempt at some stability improvements for GTTC mode

• fixed one of the Transfer (day) acid pits not being deep enough to kill

• possible fix for another stuck spot found on all versions of UtilityBase

• added a few extra splashes of colour among the green of ivy / trees

• fixed Volcano map description displaying as garbled text

STEAM SUMMER SALE

Get 75% OFF Primal Carnage: Extinction AND the PCE-4 Pack during this year's Steam Summer Sale!

Why not gift some Carnage to some friends this summer? Offer ends July 9th!

Primal Carnage Extinction

Thanks for playing!

-The Primal Carnage Team