VEIN's Hotfix 3 is out now, following 0.025 Hotfix 2 on October 4. It fixes vehicles falling through unloaded roads when driving fast, resolves most remaining food-decay bugs, adds UI and crash fixes, and increases capacity for utility cabinets, log storage containers, and wood plank containers. Multiplayer performance should improve slightly.

• Food decay: Hotfix 2 fixed most food decaying after 10 in-game weeks regardless of difficulty. Hotfix 3 fixes most other decay-related bugs.
• Vehicles: Hotfix 2 fixed dedicated-server vehicles falling through the ground; the game was simulating vehicle physics when dedicated servers were not. It also fixed missing guardrails and arrow collision issues. Hotfix 3 fixes vehicles falling through roads that are unloaded when driving fast.
• Storage and items: Utility cabinets, log storage containers, and wood plank containers hold more. Decay is tweaked for many items, and spawn chances are increased for some key items used in building repair and maintenance.
• Performance and fixes: Hotfix 3 includes UI fixes, crash fixes, fixes for grass coming through floors, and item rebalancing. The team generally avoids too many hotfix optimizations because they can introduce bugs, though multiplayer should see a slight performance gain.

These features are not yet in the main game unless noted.

• Food drying: 8z is working on food drying systems, including a solar food dehydrator you can build. Placed outdoors, it slowly dehydrates its contents; some food needs salt as an ingredient. Dehydrated food lasts far longer and has unique condition/hunger-satiation properties.
• Vehicles and roads: Yan has more or less finished new vehicle networking systems. They need a lot of testing, but the aim is for vehicles to desync far less and perform much better in multiplayer. 801 continues new road replacements and a more diverse road art set, and is working on the next vehicle replacement, the Hatchback.
• Churches and map details: Zoe integrated new churches with upper floors and accessible bell towers. She is now revitalizing exterior details in Dannemora and Lyon Mountain.
• Animation: Boon joined full-time and will animate all weapons for a while, plus item use and throwing animations. He has started on new double-barrel animations. Skyler continues work on new textured hair, and Astro is working on corrective animation modifiers for the new character.
• Zombie spawns: Kyle removed some unused systems in case they are causing bugs and increased how long buildings stay "cleared" to 3 real-life hours. The long-term goal is permanent zombies that do not "spawn in." If you lock a zombie in a bathroom and return later, it should respawn there, but Kyle does not think that has worked in a long time. Clearing an area can prevent zombie spawns for a while, but you would need to kill thousands and thousands of zombies in that area to notice. The current spawn system is not final; the changes should slightly improve performance without impacting gameplay because those systems are not noticeable or functional.
• Tools and multiplayer: Kyle added debug commands to test item balancing and check exactly how items are spawning. Using these, the team rebalanced spawn rates for some important crafting parts. He also improved the multiplayer placement algorithm to reduce desync when placing items and furniture on moving things, is refactoring how windows work to get closer to controller support, and worked on CPU-side optimizations so the world can simulate faster when more stuff is loaded.

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VEIN's 0.025 Hotfix 3 is out now, published on 15 October 2026, and it's a broad one: the headline changes are bigger container capacities, a longer-lasting memory for the game's AI spawn system, and a long tail of fixes covering desync, food decay, crashes, and world geometry.

The patch raises capacity on several containers and pushes more useful loot into the world:

• Utility Cabinet capacity increased to 2400 lbs
• Log and wood plank storage increased to 2250 lbs
• Propane locker capacity significantly increased
• Metal pipe spawn rate increased
• Car parts such as alternators are now more likely to spawn in sheds
• Scavenging results from building plumbing adjusted

Server-side zombie performance gets another pass, and the spawn system is now better at remembering where you've been.

• Improved zombie performance on servers
• More robust zombie spawn system for tracking which buildings you've cleared
• AI spawn system memory of buildings you've been in increased to three real-life hours
• Improved performance when weather changes
• Significantly increased landscape load distance, addressing issues such as falling through roads when driving fast
• Various performance optimizations

Item and furniture placement has been reverted for now, while multiplayer placement reliability and admin tools get attention.

• Item and furniture placement behavior reverted for now
• Improved desync when placing furniture and items in multiplayer, where placing something didn't succeed on the first try
• Only one UC can be in pylon mode at a time
• god and giveitem commands are now properly networked for admins using console commands
• Fixed a crash when using the admin menu to ban a player who was no longer there
• Fixed being able to use furniture and similar objects placed in a truck while in the truck, and the same for other vehicles

Decay and temperature behavior got a full audit, including frozen foods.

• Decay values for food audited across the board
• Variable decay rate added for frozen things like ice cream, so ice cream doesn't go bad as fast
• Fluids created with a stove now have correct heat values, such as boiled water at 100 C and hot beverages at 90 C

The rest of the hotfix is a wide sweep of smaller repairs:

• Fixed quest UI showing in the journal menu
• Fixed subtitle texts for fortified wood, limestone brick, and scrap metal
• Fixed fridges spawning food rotten when they shouldn't
• Fixed non-vertical ladders not being climbable, such as those on farm windmills
• Fixed gamepads not being able to select dropdown options correctly
• Fixed ore crushers, kilns, and similar structures overflowing items underneath them, like glass panes falling into the void
• Fixed grass in some warehouses and trees clipping through walls
• Fixed microwave light being stuck on
• Fixed the use option on mops, towels, and similar items not cleaning the building you're in
• Adjusted police car seat locations to clip less
• Chip items pseudostack separately
• Fixed switch name in Franklin County Substation
• Fixed floating bollards outside some warehouses
• Fixed a crash when inserting batteries into some items
• Localization fixes, including Chinese text appearing in the Turkish language
• Added a debug command to show heat values for items
• Added a bunch of debug commands to test item spawning
• Fixed arrows hitting zombies' collision instead of the zombies themselves
• Prevented third-person flashlight from casting shadows against the player themself
• Corrected un-interactable tarp furniture
• Fixed cameras disappearing from TVs on dedicated servers
• Fixed silo house garage power outlet not working
• Fixed snapped buildings attempting to parent to the wrong actors, such as windows trying to parent to doors
• Various art fixes, crash fixes, and performance optimizations

The September 15, 2026 update for VEIN says 0.025 is close and should arrive soon, barring major bugs; a hotfix can follow if needed. Its features are not on the main release yet and are live on the experimental Steam beta branch, opt-in through the game's Steam properties. The team discourages treating it as a regular run: it is bleeding-edge, breaks often, and shows content before internal testing, but remains accessible for transparency.

8z has finished and integrated VEIN's ragdoll systems. Players could previously only be conscious, unconscious, or dead, with no in-between; now players and zombies can fall over and get back up, GTA-style. A car hitting a player or zombie is no longer an instant death sentence. Zombies slow the car, running them over damages the vehicle, and unless you are moving fast enough, the victim is likely to get back up. Exiting a car at high speed ragdolls you, crashing a motorcycle flings you out, and combat can knock zombies over based on weapon, strength, and other factors. It still needs testing and tuning.

With 0.025 close, there will be no more 0.024 hotfixes. The update includes:

• Fixed procedural ADS and animation code, including misaligned ADS on newer weapons like the 870 and Fifty-Seven pistol, plus an infinite reload animation on the double-barrel shotgun.
• Performance work on distant building, terrain, and foliage rendering (HLODs), and fixes for them appearing sporadically or vanishing.
• Font rendering for signs in non-Latin alphabets such as Cyrillic and most Asian languages.
• Networking work to speed up multiplayer load-in; it remains WIP. The fully dynamic world makes it hard, but a building proof-of-concept is holding up in testing.
• Fixed indestructible yard decorations and salvageable yard props stuck in place.
• Zombie fixes: they can now climb fences and guard rails when stuck, and they no longer block each other's swings while attacking you.
• UI polish.
• A major multiplayer vehicle hitching fix for handbrake desync. If you disengaged the handbrake and towed, it might work on your screen while the server still had it engaged, causing stuttering and the towed vehicle to rear-end you on the server and deal damage.

Zombies can now have strength stats. Stronger zombies deal significantly more damage to players and fortifications, can appear shirtless if male, and show musculature when strong. Those near fitness centers tend to be stronger.

DLSS is updated to 4.5 for the next update. Most furniture and containers can crumble when destroyed, pending performance testing. New decorative prop support allows raised platforms on fences and wood slats using support beams; these should work as roofs while standalone buildable buildings come later.

Yan added exit and save-confirmation prompts, admin teleportation to custom map markers, an improved Utility Cabinet flag placement system, stress reduction from custom-movie TVs, and PgUp/PgDown map zoom. Multiplayer permission zones get a "no damage (except players)" setting so admins can run fight clubs or combat arenas without risking props.

Preliminary gamepad/Steam Deck work can now operate the main menu, character creation, and other screens with just a gamepad. It is not close to the goal, but should make further support easier. Adam is continuing to remove the taped box from crafting items, with a couple of metal sheet pieces now in experimental. Skyler is continuing new character hair, hoping to preview some in 0.026; clothing and zombie art still need work, but the code side is being prepared.

Zoe refreshed Redford and Saranac with extra detail, adding yard decorations, fences, and exterior touches. She will next work on new Champlain Valley areas intended for the next update.

801 finished new props for standalone buildables: houses or cabins built from fortification tiers, with finishable and paintable interiors plus stairs, hatches, ladders, and more. The target is 0.026, though it is just a goal. The team is still considering how to stop mansions being built in the middle of town roads, and says a server option or special permission zone settings should be enough for multiplayer players and admins wanting a more realistic or immersive experience.

VEIN is hiring an experienced programmer and UI/UX designer; email [email protected] with a portfolio or resume. Bilingual players who spot translation errors or want VEIN in their own language can use https://crowdin.com/project/vein. The official wiki at https://vein.wiki.gg/ also needs volunteers.