SCUM November Update 1.3.6: Tattoos, Controllers and No Wipe

Prisoners,

The November Update is live! Tattoos are back, controller support is here, and Photo Mode is opening up to every prisoner. There’s good news for our Linux, Steam Deck and Steam Machine players too, with support for joining multiplayer servers through Proton.

We’ve also tackled more cases of that stubborn greenery you’ve reported poking through your bases, alongside fixes for vehicles, cooking and more.

Before we get into it, this update doesn’t include a wipe, and no further official-server wipes are planned for 2026. Thank you for your patience during the last update’s server merges!

Tattoos are making a grand comeback! The revamped tattoo system gives every player access to more than 60 tattoo designs within the game, with an expanded placement system for all prisoners.

Give your prisoner a little more criminal personality. Choose your designs and placements across your face, torso, abdomen, back of the head, upper and lower arms and legs, and hands.

In October, we said we were planning two optional tattoo packs. That plan has changed. The designs originally intended for the Yakuza-themed pack are now part of this update’s expanded tattoo library, available to everyone.

The second planned collection is not included in this update. We’ll share more once its release plans are confirmed.


Choose your tattoos during character creation, or visit the barber trader in a safe zone to give your existing prisoner some fresh ink!

Mouse and keyboard not your style? Prefer surviving from your couch? You can now play with your controller of choice. Fight, drive, fish, take photos and tackle minigames, with radial menus and button combinations putting additional actions within reach.

Combined with multiplayer support through Proton, this also gives our Steam Deck and Steam Machine prisoners more ways to play. More on that below.

This first release may still have some rough edges. If something isn’t working as expected, let us know through SCUM Support, including your controller model and what happened.

Life on the island isn’t all danger and hardship. There’s plenty of good old-fashioned goofing around, and you’ve probably made a few friends while trying to stay alive. Whether you’ve just beaten the odds or done something your squad will never let you live down, it’s worth getting a picture.

Photo Mode is now available to every player at no additional cost. You can also use any Photo Mode poses included in packs you own with it.

Press P or select Photo Mode from your controller’s radial menu. Set up your shot and capture whatever your squad has managed to get themselves into.

Photo Mode was previously included in Supporter Pack 2, and we know it was a reason some of you bought the pack. Thank you for your support over the years. Pack owners will receive three exclusive face tattoos as replacement content.

We’ve got some good news for our Linux prisoners! Some of you have already found ways to get SCUM multiplayer running through various workarounds. Joining multiplayer servers through Proton is now officially supported on Linux devices, including Steam Deck and Steam Machine.

We know this has been a long-requested addition, and we’re glad to welcome more of you onto the island. Team up with your squad and see how long you last.

Haven’t taken that trip into the catacombs yet? The Halloween quest will run until the end of November, so there’s still time to complete it and collect the rewards.

Pick up the quest from a General Goods trader, then head to one of the decorated graveyards. Prepare Corpse Soup and take it to the catacomb altar between 00:00 and 04:00 in-game time to perform the ritual. Bring back what it summons to complete the quest.

You’ll unlock a Coffin Bed, Hanging Jack-o’-Lantern, Candleholders and Cooking Cauldron for your base.
Among this update’s fixes are vehicle collisions that could leave cars stuck, stop vehicles abruptly without the expected damage, or launch the Wolfswagen into the air. We’ve also cleared blocked doorways in the Abandoned Bunker and addressed lingering vegetation and foliage sounds inside player bases.

You’ll find the full details below:

BASE BUILDING

• Fixed an issue where certain types of foliage were not removed when base building elements were placed over them.
• Fixed an issue where foliage clipped through Wood, Metal, Brick and Cement upgrades of Small Twig Stairs.
• Fixed an issue where foliage sound effects continued to play in areas where foliage had been removed by a foundation.
• Fixed an issue where the Woodland Hearth had significantly lower durability than other base building items, the Improvised Oven and the Eastern Oven.

VEHICLES

• Fixed an issue where driving a Wolfswagen into a tractor’s front tires could launch the Wolfswagen into the air.
• Fixed an issue where vehicles, particularly the Wolfswagen, could become stuck after frontal collisions with static objects such as signs, power poles and trees.
• Fixed an issue where high-speed collisions with unoccupied vehicles left the stationary vehicle unmoved while the moving vehicle stopped abruptly without taking the expected amount of damage.
• Fixed an issue where other players could not drive a bike after its previous driver was teleported.
• Fixed an issue where passengers on the Big Raft could not use one-handed or two-handed weapons.
• Fixed an issue where the Inflate option for a deflated Dinghy was not grayed out when no Air Pump was nearby.
• Fixed an issue where the Medium Vehicle Storage Rack description did not list the RIS as a compatible vehicle.

BUNKERS

• Fixed an issue where invisible collision blocked doors in multiple locations in the Abandoned Bunker.
• Fixed an issue where players could bypass the bunker logout timer by forcing a logout and closing the game during the reconnection loading screen.
• Fixed an issue where Puppets and other hostile NPCs were missing from WW2 Bunkers in sector C2.
• Fixed an issue where Killbox doors incorrectly displayed the “Close Door” interaction prompt after being opened by cutting the wires.
• Fixed an issue where exterior environment textures briefly flashed when turning corners or running through tunnels and corridors in the active bunker in sector B4.

INTERACTIONS & MOVEMENT

• Fixed an issue where players could become stuck on the left-turning staircase on the refinery’s upper level, causing the camera to jitter and movement animations to continue without movement.
• Fixed an issue where ingredients taken from a container could become deselected when it was closed, causing the Cook option to behave incorrectly and preventing certain recipes from being cooked.
• Fixed an issue where failing the Door Hacking minigame activated the hazard lights without playing the alarm sound.
• Fixed an issue where a caught fish could remain visually attached to the character’s hand if the player was knocked out while the Keep or Release Fish prompt was active.

WEAPONS

• Fixed an issue where Frag Grenades could damage vehicles while Dynamite could not under the same custom zone damage settings.
• Fixed an issue where dropping a bow caused the nocked arrow to disappear instead of returning to the player’s inventory.
• Fixed an issue where the M249 Killbox pack contained attachments that could not be equipped on the M249.
• Fixed an issue where the Blackhawk Scope occupied more inventory space than the SpektralDR despite being smaller.

WORLD & GAMEPLAY

• Improved collision on a coastal rock to reduce cases of players and items clipping into it.
• Fixed an issue where players could become trapped in a hole with excessively steep terrain near the outer map wall in sector C0.
• Fixed an issue where invisible objects blocked bullets at the cemetery in sector C3.
• Fixed multiple level design issues across the C sectors, including walls missing collision, misplaced Safe Zone signs, and floating trees, bushes and power lines.
• Fixed an issue where the car on top of the mechanic’s building at the Z3 Outpost could not be searched.
• Fixed an issue where wooden planks barricading doors and leaning against walls at the Nuclear Power Plant in sector C0 visibly changed detail levels when players moved in and out of the room.
• Fixed an issue where Trader funds did not decrease when Traders bought items from players.
• Increased Bread uses from nine to ten so a loaf divides evenly when crafting sandwiches.
• Fixed an issue where the Into the Wild experience bonus for Archery and Awareness remained active.
• Fixed an issue where the truck wreck at the C2 Outpost appeared green from a distance.
• Fixed an issue where large warehouse windows at the sawmill were not affected by fog when viewed from outside.

CHARACTERS & ANIMATION

• Fixed an issue where parts of the censorship underwear disappeared after unequipping the Leather Mini Skirt.
• Fixed an issue where censorship underwear textures appeared stretched when wearing Animal Skin Pants or Mutant Skin Pants.
• Fixed an issue where Animal Skin Pants and Mutant Skin Pants clipped through the Qipao Dress on male characters.
• Fixed an issue where mustache and beard colors remained black instead of matching the selected hair color during character creation.
• Fixed an issue where eating animations were not visible to other players when food was consumed directly from the inventory.
• Fixed an issue where selecting dark green hair for the Type 14 male character resulted in gray or white hair instead.
• Fixed an issue where large animals rotated too abruptly during small changes of direction.

INTERFACE

• Fixed an issue where other players could see information about a buried chest and the player who buried it by looking at its burial location.
• Fixed an issue where wetness icons were missing from wet items in the vicinity window and inside containers.
• Fixed an issue where consuming Fish Salad caused it to appear as Fruit Salad in the Metabolism tab, resulting in two Fruit Salad entries after consuming both dishes.
• Fixed an issue where a cooking progress indicator appeared when a newly created character opened the Cooking tab without selecting a recipe.
• Fixed an issue where the character’s mugshot was missing in Sandbox mode.
• Fixed an issue where the character’s movement was exaggerated when following the mouse cursor on the main menu.
• Fixed an issue where the Improvised Chandelier’s description text was incorrectly formatted.
• Fixed an issue where the Deer Skull Trophy’s Destroy option displayed the full item description instead of the action name.
• Fixed an issue where the “Patterns Can’t Be Applied To This Object” message appeared twice when applying patterns to incompatible base building objects.

PHOTO MODE & GRAPHICS

• Fixed an issue where the Photo Mode camera clipped into nearby players when they entered its view in multiplayer.
• Fixed an issue where the Improvised Paint Sprayer clipped into the character during certain upper-body poses in Photo Mode’s selfie camera.
• Fixed an issue where gas pumps did not cast shadows, making them visually inconsistent with surrounding objects.
• Fixed an issue where the damage screen overlay did not fit the screen when Render Scale was above 100%.

SERVER SETTINGS

• Fixed an issue where damage settings in overlapping custom zones did not respect the smaller zone’s higher priority, allowing damage when it was set to Blocked.
• Fixed an issue where the descriptions for the “Global Animal Density Multiplier” and “Max Non-Virtual Animals in World” server settings displayed incorrect default values.

Work continues on 'Survivalist', an optional server ruleset focused on a tougher survival experience, and our next season. We’re also working on further fixes and stability improvements. We’ll share more as those plans take shape, with a look at the next update in our next preview.

As always, if you encounter anything else that requires our attention, please let us know through one of the following channels:

• Bug Reports forum on Steam
• Official SCUM Support

See you on the Island, prisoners.