Welcome to Elderfield Patch Notes & Demo Changelog

Welcome to Elderfield arrived on Steam on September 10, 2026, and developer Chris Cote has kept the demo branch actively maintained right up to launch week. The September 2026 demo changelog and the hotfix that followed it touch nearly every part of the daily farmstead loop: fishing, bee keeping, marriage, controller play, and dungeon combat readability.

This page breaks down every documented change, what each fix means in practice, and how the launch-window patch builds on the earlier v0.11.17 demo update.

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September 2026 Demo Changelog at a Glance

Category	Change
Fishing	Fixed bait not adding the correct rate to bait-exclusive fish (such as Leeches)
Farming	Bee Houses now have a 1/3 chance to give wax
Marriage & Gifts	Fixed the relationship status not changing in the gift menu when you marry an NPC
Stability	(Hopefully) fixed the “Cannot set properties of null (setting ‘baseTexture’)” crash when transitioning from maps with a fog effect
Fishing, Controller	Fishing spots will no longer try to target diagonals on controller
Combat UI	Fixed the battle scene cursor image not moving to lower skills in the list
Combat UI	Fixed item name tooltips not aligning correctly in the battle scene
Audio	Fixed radio audio issues, such as the BGM volume setting being turned down
Mouse & Keyboard	Fixed sprite-based mouse interaction not working properly
Mouse & Keyboard	Fixed holding control to pick up ground decorations sometimes requiring many tries
Events	The tile highlight image now hides when an event is running, making it less visually obtrusive
Localization	Fixed a lot of misc. missing localized text

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What the Changes Mean for Your Farmstead

Fishing: Bait Rates and Controller Aiming

The fishing fix is the headline change for anglers. Bait was not adding the correct rate to bait-exclusive fish such as Leeches, which meant targeted bait runs for those species were far less reliable than intended. With the correction, bait-exclusive fish now properly benefit from the bait you attach, so dedicated bait crafting for Leeches finally pays off.

Controller players get a second quality-of-life pass: fishing spots no longer try to target diagonals. If you have been overshooting bobbers on a gamepad, casts should now lock cleanly onto the spot you intend.

Bee Houses: A Reliable Source of Wax

The biggest farm economy change is that Bee Houses now have a 1/3 chance to give wax on each harvest. Wax previously had to come from whatever sources the demo offered; now your apiary doubles as a steady wax supply. Placing a small row of Bee Houses near your flowers converts hive maintenance into a recurring crafting material, which matters for any recipe chain that calls for wax.

Marriage and the Gift Menu

Romance-minded players will appreciate the marriage fix. The relationship status in the gift menu was not changing when you married an NPC, leaving newlywed gift-giving feedback stuck at its pre-marriage tier. The display now updates correctly, so tracking liked and disliked gifts for your spouse works as intended.

Stability: The baseTexture Crash on Fog Maps

The changelog addresses the “Cannot set properties of null (setting ‘baseTexture’)” crash that occurred when transitioning from maps with a fog effect. The developer marks the fix as hopeful rather than guaranteed, so if the crash resurfaces on fog-heavy maps, it is worth reporting with the map pair that triggered it. For everyone else, fog map transitions should simply stop interrupting dungeon runs and evening strolls.

Combat Readability in the Battle Scene

Two smaller fixes clean up the battle scene: the cursor image now moves to lower skills in the list when navigating, and item name tooltips align correctly. Neither changes combat balance, but together they remove the guesswork from browsing skills and checking item names mid-fight, which is exactly where hesitation hurts in the Dead Mall.

Radio, Events, and Decoration Pickup

Radio audio issues are resolved, including the odd behavior where the BGM volume setting was turned down. On the overworld, the tile highlight image now hides while an event is running, which keeps festival scenes and scripted moments from fighting with the UI for your attention. Sprite-based mouse interaction works properly, and holding control to pick up ground decorations no longer takes repeated attempts.

A final sweep fixed a lot of missing localized text across the demo, tightening up the localization work begun in v0.11.17.

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Launch Hotfix: Starting Area and NPC Dialogue

Immediately after the demo window, a hotfix resolved two blocking issues:

• Fixed the player starting in the wrong area (and without character customization), so new runs now open where intended, with your character creator settings intact.
• Fixed looping dialogue when interacting with NPCs via mouse, or when holding the space bar. Conversations with villagers no longer repeat endlessly, which restores normal town socializing for mouse players.

Both fixes remove friction from the very first minutes of the game, from character creation to your first villager greeting.

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Demo Update v0.11.17: The Changes That Set the Stage

The launch-window patches build on the v0.11.17 demo update from late August 2026, which was the demo’s largest revision. Its headline additions:

• Localization for six languages: Chinese, Portuguese, Spanish, French, German and Russian via the “Language” option, plus better support for fan translations.
• Loadouts system: save and rename up to 10 equipment loadouts in the equip menu. The old “Optimize” option was removed in favor of player-authored presets.
• 5 new hairstyles for character customization.
• Social menu: a new menu for tracking friendship level and each NPC’s liked and disliked gifts.
• Graphics configuration: new toggles for Ambient VFX, Weather VFX, Footprint VFX, and Fog VFX.
• Controller options: a “Controller Type” option and a “Reset to Defaults” option.
• Performance and comfort: optimizations targeting micro-stutters, plus options to disable NPC Dialogue Zoom and the Map Transition Filter.

Read together, v0.11.17 established the accessibility and social-tracking foundation, while the September changelog and hotfix polished the daily loop on top of it.

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Related Guides

• Release Date, Platforms & Demo for launch details and where to grab the demo.
• Beginner Farming & Combat if you are just settling into your farmstead.
• Romance & NPC Gifts to plan your marriage route now that the gift menu displays relationship status correctly.