Schedule I Halloween Update (v0.4.1): Sewers, Ladders, Fixes
Short version: Schedule I v0.4.1, the Halloween update, came out on Nov 2, 2025, 36 days after v0.4.0f8. It added sewers under Hyland Point, a climbing system with ladders, and optimizations TVGS expected to raise frame rates by 10-15%. TVGS also blamed many co-op connection issues on bandwidth limits and promised a fix before the Shrooms update: v0.4.1f12 followed 16 days later. Later notes add shrooms in the sewer (v0.4.2) and a ladder camera fix (v0.4.3).
What changed: v0.4.0f8 → v0.4.1
| Area | v0.4.0f8 | v0.4.1 | What it means for you | Official line |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sewer system | Not in the v0.4.0f8 notes; v0.4.1 lists it under Additions | A sewer system under Hyland Point, entered with a sewer access key; a sewer maintenance office property; 'sewer king' and 'sewer goblin' NPCs | TVGS describes the sewers as a way to move around without worrying about police and cartel members, with unnamed risks. Patch v0.4.1f12 fixed one character never being picked as the random key holder, and v0.4.2 added shrooms that spawn in the sewer. | You'll need to get ahold of a sewer access key to get down there. Fixed Jessi never being selected as the random sewer key possessor. |
| Climbing and ladders | Not in the v0.4.0f8 notes | A climbing system, with ladders in the sewers and on several buildings around the map | More ways up onto buildings. The notes don't list which buildings. v0.4.3 later fixed sprint camera bobbing while on a ladder. | these ladders can be found in the sewers, as well as on several buildings around the map. Fixed sprint 'camera bobbing' while on a ladder. |
| Frame rate | No frame rate target stated in the v0.4.0f8 notes | 17 listed tweaks and improvements, most of them performance work (culling, shadows, LODs, update loops); TVGS expected a 10-15% frame rate boost | The 10-15% is the developer's expectation, not a measured result. The notes also name one specific fix: a ~1s hitch when loading a game, caused by graffiti surfaces. | it should all add up to provide a decent (10-15%) boost framerate. This was causing a ~1s hitch and unnecessary memory allocation whenever loading a game. |
| Joining a co-op game | v0.4.0f8 fixed excessive graffiti-related network traffic causing connection issues | A 'replication queue' to stagger network traffic when a player joins | TVGS said many co-op connection issues were likely bandwidth limits being exceeded and that more work was coming. v0.4.1f12, 16 days later, lists a network replication queue under Additions again, plus a networking refactor to minimise bandwidth. | Fixed excessive graffiti-related network traffic causing connection issues. Added new 'replication queue' system to help stagger network traffic when a player joins a multiplayer game. Added a network replication queue system, which staggers the data being sent whenever a player joins a multiplayer game. |
| Police and NPC vision | Police could fail to share where a wanted player was; NPCs could shoot at a player they couldn't see | Fixed | The notes say the police fix lets officers 'share' their knowledge of where a wanted player is. | Fixed a bug where NPCs would shoot at the player even when not visible. |
| Graffiti spots | Not stated in the notes | 5 more graffiti locations | The notes don't say where the 5 new spots are. v0.4.3 later added one more, on the bungalow roof. | Added 5 more graffiti locations. Added a new graffiti location to the bungalow roof. |
Release dates
Every date below is the UTC date of TVGS’s Steam announcement.
| Step | Date | Days after previous |
|---|---|---|
| v0.4.0f8 | Sep 27, 2025 | – |
| v0.4.1: Halloween Update | Nov 2, 2025 | 36 |
| Patch v0.4.1f12 | Nov 18, 2025 | 16 |
| v0.4.2 Open Beta | Dec 22, 2025 | 34 |
| v0.4.2: Shrooms Update | Dec 26, 2025 | 4 |
The Halloween post opens with an apology: “Sorry this update is a couple of days late”. TVGS had planned to skip the open beta and decided at the last minute to test it publicly “for at least a day”. There is no separate v0.4.1 open beta post in the Steam announcements we saved, and no v0.4.1f1 to f11 posts either: the next post is f12. For how this compares with other Schedule I betas, see our beta-to-default timeline.
What was promised, and what happened
Two promises in these posts can be checked against what came next:
| Promise | Where | What happened |
|---|---|---|
| A multiplayer bandwidth patch “before the Shrooms update” | v0.4.1 post, Nov 2 | v0.4.1f12 came on Nov 18, 38 days before v0.4.2, with a networking refactor to minimise bandwidth |
| Shrooms “pushed back into early-mid December” (a “good chance”, not a date) | v0.4.1f12 post, Nov 18 | The v0.4.2 open beta came on Dec 22 and the full release on Dec 26 |
The v0.4.1 post says: “a patch for this will be releasing before the Shrooms update.” The f12 post says: “there’s a good chance the Shrooms update will be pushed back into early-mid December, sorry.”
What the notes say, row by row
Here are the lines behind the rows of the What changed table above, from the v0.4.1 post:
- Sewers: “This update adds a new sewer system under the Hyland Point.” and “The sewers offer a new way to navigate Hyland Point without having to worry about police and cartel members”. The notes also list “Added sewer access key.” and the ‘sewer king’ and ‘sewer goblin’ NPCs.
- Ladders: “There’s a new ladder system which opens up a bit more vertical navigation”.
- Frame rate: “Most of this work is in the form of small tweaks and reworks”. Listed tweaks include “Tweaked occlusion settings for more aggressive culling.” and “Turned off shadows for a bunch of small objects.”
- Co-op: “I’ve discovered that a lot of the connection issues in multiplayer are likely due to bandwidth limits being exceeded”.
- Police: “Fixed police officer vision getting bugged if killed while searching for the player.”
- Pickpocketing: “Fixed not being able to pickpocket unconscious NPCs if you have recently failed a pickpocket.”
The notes also add a 2x1m plastic table, a trash crown, a garbage throne and a loading dock at the west Gas-Mart. This page covers only the rows above.
Later patches that changed it
Each row is a later Steam announcement line that names something v0.4.1 added: the sewers, the sewer key, ladders, the replication queue or graffiti locations. Later graffiti features such as undo and stroke sizes are not listed, because v0.4.1 didn’t add the graffiti system itself. Each line is quoted from the linked announcement.
| Patch | Date | Official line |
|---|---|---|
| v0.4.1f12 | Nov 18, 2025 | “Fixed Jessi never being selected as the random sewer key possessor.” |
| v0.4.1f12 | Nov 18, 2025 | “Added a network replication queue system, which staggers the data being sent whenever a player joins a multiplayer game.” |
| v0.4.2 | Dec 26, 2025 | “Added randomly spawning shrooms in the sewer.” |
| v0.4.3 | Feb 2, 2026 | “Added a new graffiti location to the bungalow roof.” |
| v0.4.3 | Feb 2, 2026 | “Fixed sprint ‘camera bobbing’ while on a ladder.” |
The f12 replication queue line reads like the v0.4.1 one, and both are listed under Additions. The notes don’t say how the two differ. The v0.4.2 open beta post (Dec 22) has the same shrooms-in-the-sewer line as the full release.
What this means for players now
Only what the notes state:
- The 10-15% frame rate figure is TVGS’s expectation for v0.4.1, not a benchmark. Our lag and low FPS guide lists what later versions changed for performance.
- If co-op joins fail, the v0.4.1f12 notes are where TVGS’s bandwidth work landed. Our authentication failed guide covers the error itself.
- Not stated in the notes: where the sewer entrances are, who else can hold the sewer key, or what the sewers’ risks are.
Newer versions are on the Schedule I page.
How we checked this
We read the v0.4.1 post, the v0.4.0f8 post before it, and every later Schedule I announcement up to v0.4.7, from copies of TVGS’s Steam announcements saved on Oct 28, 2026, and checked each quote above word for word against them. We searched those later posts for the sewer, ladders, climbing, the replication queue and new graffiti locations, and the Later patches table has every match. We haven’t played the update to test these changes ourselves.