Dungeon Settlers Update v0.4.17: Portrait Lock and Explosion Rework

CanOpener shipped v0.4.17 on September 6, 2026 — the second of three patches in Early Access’s first three days, landing two days after v0.4.12. It pairs two quality-of-life features with a combat-skill rework and a long fix list.

What’s new in v0.4.17?

Per the official notes, the headline additions:

• Portrait Lock in Recruit Expedition Members — keep the current candidate’s portrait and appearance when you select Recruit Again
• Mute in Background option — the game mutes while its window is inactive; enabled by default
• Improved save version compatibility warnings — warnings now appear only when loading a save from a different version series (e.g. v0.3.x → v0.4.x), not every minor patch

How did Explosion change?

The Fire skill Explosion was reworked:

• Base damage is unchanged — 400% of Magic Attack Power
• The additional damage based on the target’s Burning stacks (×10 per stack) was removed
• It now applies 5 stacks of Burning for 10 seconds to affected targets
• Casting time reduced 2.88 → 1.88 seconds, and its VFX duration 4 → 3 seconds

The short version: Explosion is no longer a finisher for pre-burned targets — it’s now the thing that lights them up itself, and it comes out a full second faster.

What bugs were fixed?

The fix list from the official notes:

• NPCs could become hostile even when they dodged an attack — fixed
• Clicking Confirm could be ignored when multiple confirmation pop-ups overlapped
• Healing Touch took priority over First Aid when right-clicking a downed ally — fixed
• Bubble Toad’s basic attack animation occasionally failed to play
• Several VFX and particle effects did not adjust playback speed with game speed
• Settlement BGM did not resume after the credits ended
• The Guard Captain character sprite was replaced
• The Vampire Potion description was clarified (attacks drain a fixed amount of Health for a limited time — the actual effect is unchanged)
• Carapace Processing research tiers shown in some Expedition Resolutions were corrected
• The Inventory guide gained the existing Ctrl+Drag (move half) and Shift+Drag (choose quantity) controls
• Several Spanish and German translation entries were corrected

Does v0.4.17 change how tutorials behave?

Two small yes: camera zoom tutorial objectives can now be completed using the keys assigned to Camera Zoom In/Out, the repeated tutorial notification interval went from 18 to 24 seconds, and tutorial notification sounds are suppressed while the Skill window is open. The Recruitment refresh pop-up also no longer fails to close when using the Confirm Notice key.

Where to read the full notes?

The official patch notes live on the game’s Steam news feed — post “[Update] v0.4.17”, dated September 6, 2026. The follow-up patch v0.4.19 shipped the same day; this wiki’s Updates section covers both.

What to read next

• Dungeon Settlers Update v0.4.19 — the same-day follow-up patch: difficulty default, weight cuts, Gloth summon caps
• EA Roadmap: Updates 4–6 & V1.0 Plans — where these patches sit on the Early Access roadmap
• Beginner’s Guide: Your First Days — if you’re rerolling your first expedition