DLC 5: The Great Outdoors

To celebrate the one-year anniversary for Harvest Moon: The Winds of Anthos, Natsume announced an unexpected surprise DLC in September. After a few development delays, the fifth DLC, The Great Outdoors was released on October 24, 2024. This DLC was free for season pass holders (i.e., those who bought DLC access in advance) and $9.99 for players who wanted to purchase the DLC on its own.

The DLC added new content and functionality to Anthos: a treasure-hunting mechanism, the ability to rest outdoors, traveling with a house pet, an auto-feeder for the animals, and a super-important barn cleaning robot to tackle the massive amount of daily compost produced by a barn full of animals.

Camping

After the DLC installs, you'll receive a call from Doc Jr. The cutie patootie inventor has received a distress call from someone named Dave, who has gotten lost somewhere near Providence. You will find Dave at his campsite southeast of Providence Village.

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Dave explains that he's an avid camper. After he pitched his tent that night, he awoke to find that he didn't know where he was! Dave is shocked to learn you have never experienced the excitement of camping. He gives you an old camping set (Tent Lv. 1) and requests that you try it. He also gives you the recipe for Skewered Mushrooms and asks that you take a photograph of your first time camping and cooking under the stars.

Doc Jr will then call via the DocPad. Since your animals still need care while you're away camping, he sets up an Auto Cleaner in the animal barn to care for the compost that collects on the barn floor every day. Doc will also install an Auto Mini Feeder inside your house and in the animal barn to automatically fill the pet/livestock feed bins daily. You need to return home and fill the feeder with Animal Feed for it to function (max of 99 bags of feed per feeder). The chicken-shaped barn Auto Cleaner will only work if its collection bin is not full.

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Collect two mushrooms, then set up your camp anywhere by pressing Left on the directional pad of your game controller. Press Y to cook the Skewered Mushrooms, the Left Shoulder to take a photograph of your campout, and the A button to go to sleep. The meal you selected will then refill your stamina hearts.

Talk to Dave in the morning to show him the photograph. He'll recognize your new appreciation for camping and offer to sell new campfire recipes and seasonings.

Dave explains that he used to be a famous actor, though sadly, you've never heard of him. Well, that's a bummer. The actor says his goal is to reach Herbstburg. You point him in the correct direction, though he will stick around Providence for a bit.

Finding Dave

After a few days, you'll receive another message from Doc Jr. Seems like Dave has gotten lost again on his way to Herbstburg. Oh boy!

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This time, Dave has wandered into the desert area. Teleport to the Desert Entrance goddess statue and travel southeast into the sands. You should see the top of Dave's camping tent shortly after entering the desert. Ensure you have protection against the desert heat if you visit during the day or against the desert's cold at night.

Dave is grateful you've answered his distress call again. He started walking northeast towards Herbstburg but somehow entered a sandstorm and became lost. Dave won't stop camping, though! You see, he caught his camping itch when he was asked to write a play for a local theater company. Writer's block prevented him from coming up with an idea at home, so he left with just his bare belongings and found himself in a quiet and solitary area surrounded by nature. Dave wrote a successful play based on his newfound love of camping.

You direct Dave back to the correct path towards Herbstburg. As thanks, he offers to upgrade your tent level. Access his shop and select the Craft menu when you have the required materials to upgrade. Improving your camping gear will increase your campout food options and restore more stamina from sleeping outdoors. Dave needs you to bring him 15 Board Lumber, 5 Iron, and 10,000 G to strengthen your campsite.

About a week later, Doc Jr will contact you through the DocPad to tell you he received another SOS transmission from Dave. The camper lost his way as he traveled to Herbstburg, and this time, he ended up somewhere cold and snowy. He asks that you help again and bring some hot stew!

Before heading to Dave's third location, cook a Mushroom Stew in your farmhouse kitchen. The recipe is already in your cookbook, as it is one of the dishes you can make after you obtain a kitchen. Mix together 1 Carrot, 2 Mushroom, and 1 Milk to cook the meal.

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Dave has gone a bit too far north this time. You'll find him in the Aurora Woods, the path to the right/east when entering the snowy mountain area from the Providence region. If you have already unlocked the Aurora Woods warp statue, head there and look southeast to see Dave's tent.

The wayward camper is grateful for the warm stew. You see, he settled camp for the night, only to discover his footprints had been covered by snow the next morning. He didn't intend to get lost again! If your stew is this tasty, Dave assumes your curry dishes must be amazing!

Of course, Dave is correct. Curry is an amazing meal. Mr.Fogu doesn't like it for some reason, but his taste buds are broken. Curry is absolutely delicious.

As you are unfamiliar with the culinary masterpiece called curry, Dave offers to offer a camping gear upgrade. He asks that you bring him 15 Square Lumber, 3 Damascus Steel, and 120,000 G. Square Lumber is crafted using the farmhouse workbench, and Damascus Steel Ore is from the Herbstburg South Mine (floor 15 and lower for ground, floor 35 and lower for nodes) or in the Volcano Mine (floors 20 to 80).

Bring the materials back to Dave, who will upgrade your tent so you can cook a delicious curry dish while camping. Dave's now satisfied that he's taught you everything there is to know about life (i.e., camping and curry), though he feels uninspired with his own life. He hopes that visiting the city of arts, Herbstburg will revitalize his spirit. Once again, you point him in the right direction.

Another week goes by until you receive another message from Doc Jr on the DocPad. Yep, another SOS transmission from Dave! He's closer to Herbstburg South this time, but the hills feel like a maze. He is tired of being lost all the time and wishes he had a cute animal companion for comfort.

Before searching for Dave, have an animal companion via the Animal Tagalong Tag (see explanation farther down this page). The size of the pet won't matter.

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You'll find Dave west of the Fall Foliage Walkway warp statue. He's glad you've come to help again, and this time with a cute animal! As thanks, Dave will give you 10 Animal Feed. Now that he's so close, Dave feels that he can find his way to Herbstburg, but just in case, you offer to walk him to the town's gate.

Alas, Dave walks very slowly. It will take him about 6 hours (in normal time mode) to walk from his tent in the Fall Foliage Walkway to the western gate of Herbstburg. When I tried it, Dave got to the town gate and then started walking back to his tent, eventually getting stuck because he got too far away from town. The best solution is to warp to Herbstburg and not follow the man who tends to get lost.

Now that he's reached his goal, Dave looks upon Herbstburg and feels inspired. There is even a stage in the middle of town! Some of the villagers recognize Dave from his days as an actor. Lost Dave is grateful for their recognition and invites everyone to the stage, where he puts on a one-person show. Thanks to you, he remembers the joy of being an actor. Now that he has his mojo back, Dave intends to write a new script about the Goddess of Curry as he travels around Anthos.

At this point, Dave will be temporarily gone from the map.

After another week, you'll receive a letter from Dave. He's not sure where he is again, though he is less concerned about his whereabouts this time as he is busy working on his new curry-themed play. Dave invites you to locate him again to receive 10 Hot Mushroom.

Locate Dave 2: The Camping Boogaloo

With no clues as to his whereabouts, you're generally on your own to find the lost actor. Dave's location seems to be random from person to person. Players have noted that they found Dave's last hiding spot at some of these locations:

Once located for the last time, Dave doesn't appear to travel around anymore; can't confirm that as a fact yet.

Pet Adventures

Check your mailbox for the letter from Mathis of Lectenbury. He gifts you an Animal Tag Along Permit. To use the new leash, interact with any pet to have it follow you while exploring the world. This could be any house pet (dog, cat, bird, rabbit, longbodies) or any large pet (bear, large cat, camelids), but does not include ridable mounts (horse, dino, camel, sasquatch) or product-producing animals (sheep, cows, chickens).

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Bringing a pet along while you explore Anthos brings benefits, such as pointing you to Harvest Wisps or locate hidden treasure.

Each species of pet has a special Tag Along ability, which you can learn by investigating the animals' profiles in your Animal Notebooks.

Pets also have environments that they don't enjoy, such as the Snow Leopard in the desert or the Border Collie in the volcano. While in those unsuitable areas, the tag-along pets will walk slower and cannot use their special abilities. The pet won't become detached as it slowly follows wherever you go. Eventually, it will catch up when you stop or magically teleport to your location.

Tag-along pets also come with extra storage space. A separate Animal Bag is linked to your rucksack while you have a pet companion. Press the Right Shoulder button while in your inventory to access the bag. You can transfer items from the three bag categories (items, seeds, or resources) into the Animal Bag. Press the Right Shoulder again to close the Animal Bag.

When you switch to a new tag-along pet, any Animal Bag items will automatically return to your main inventory. Excess items will drop to the ground.

To detach your tag-along pet, open your inventory and navigate to the Important Items section. Locate the Animal Tag Along Permit and select the item to use it. You'll be asked if you want to "End Tag Along." Remember that any items in your friend's inventory will be transferred to your bag after de-coupling the pet.

Treasure Hunting

You'll receive a letter from Treasure Hunter Elena, looking for an intern to help her discover the mysterious treasures scattered around Anthos. You'll find Elena along the road northeast of Providence before it splits north towards the Three Brothers Waterfall. She's glad to see someone respond to her completely random letter request for an intern. Before you realize it, she adds a treasure-hunting component to your DocPad.

A pick-axe icon next to the mini-map will flash blue when a hidden treasure is detected nearby. Press the Right button on your controller's directional (D) pad to start Treasure Hunting Mode. The mini-map will then swap to a dowsing map, and the pick-axe icon will flash when you're walking closer to the hidden spot; if the icon turns grey, you've gone farther away.

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Eventually, you'll see a blue circle target area on the mini map that indicates the treasure's location. The treasure is hidden somewhere in that target area. Hit the ground using the action button and watch for the sparks that appear. Small sparks mean you're far, while large sparks mean you're super close! Eventually, you'll dig up the treasure. The target on the mini-map will then go away, and you can press Right on the D-pad again to close Treasure Hunting Mode. You may have to cut wild grass to uncover the underground hiding spot of the treasure.

Tag-along pets can also point to where the treasure is hidden. All pets have a chance of helping you, with a higher chance of activating based on your friendship level. Domesticated dogs, Brown Bear, and Asian Black Bear have a treasure hunting tag-along skill.

The types of items you can find can be as simple as crop seeds, mushrooms, and ore. You can also find bags of coins that sell in village shops. Basic treasures can reappear after some time, while rare treasures are a one-time discovery.

The game's encyclopedia will track the unique types of treasures uncovered. There are 52 rare items to discover.

If you're looking for Ancient Gold Coins, try the island with the Lilikala Sasquatch that is southwest of the Volcano.

Elena's Quests

As her assistant, the researcher will mark areas on your DocPad world map where she has detected ancient treasures. Your task is to visit those locations and retrieve the mystery item, then return the item to Elena for a reward. These treasures are rare and acquired one time only. As they cannot be old, these quest treasures are kept in the Important Items section of your inventory.

There are several levels of difficulty: intern, beginner, intermediate, advanced, and dangerous. Since Elena has a general idea of where these items are found, she'll mark large search areas on your DocPad world map. When you look through the target area for a treasure, the discovered treasure might not be the rare treasure. When that happens, the target area will get smaller until you finally locate the rare treasure.

Elena might give you a photograph of a location instead of marking a spot on the DocPad map. To review the photograph, open the Requests section of the DocPad and locate the task from Elena that has the attached image. It helps to have some knowledge of the landscape of Anthos to locate the area referenced in the photograph.

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Return to Elena to hand over the treasure and receive a reward. After you have completed the current level's target maps, talk to her again to unlock the more difficult maps.

Some of these treasures are throwbacks to older games published by Natsume.

General Treasures

  1. Ancient Copper Coins: 1650 G (via shipping bin) or 1500 G (via store merchants)
  2. Ancient Silver Coins: 3025 G (shipping bin) or 2750 G (via store merchants)
  3. Ancient White Gold Coins: 10,120 G (shipping bin) or 9200 G (via store merchants)
  4. Ancient Gold Coins: 6,050 G (shipping bin) or 5400 G (via store merchants)

Intern Level

  1. Calf Earthenware (800 G): (Tutorial treasure)

Beginner Level

  1. Horse Earthenware (1000 G): South of the Providence Village farm space
  2. Chick Earthenware (1000 G): Southeast of the Moon Viewing Woods warp statue
  3. Brown Bear Earthenware (Photograph, 1200 G): North of the Breezy Plains farm space, near the lake under the Giants Waterfall
  4. Jewel of Truth (1000 G): North of the Lilikala Village warp statue
  5. Velociraptor Earthenware (1000 G): South of the Moon Viewing Woods, a little north of the mountain range that protects Lilikala
  6. Picture Book (1000 G): South of the Breezy Plains farm space, near the lake
  7. Mysterious Book (1000 G): Along the path behind the Breezy Plains farm space

Intermediate Level

  1. Aged Bengal Tiger Porcelian (Photograph, 3000 G): North of the hill by the Shallow Playground warp statue where the wild Hare live
  2. Firefly Night (2000 G): East of the Shallow Playground warp statue on Lilikala beach, up the hill past the wild Hare
  3. Union Membership Card (2000 G): In the sand northeast of Kanoa's house in Likikala
  4. Aged Chicken Porcelian (2000 G): Between the two grassy mounds north of the entrace to the Volcano
  5. Aged Cow Porcelian (Photograph, 3000 G): Under the tree to the south of the bridge by the Three-Pronged River warp statue
  6. Aged White Fox Porcelian (2000 G): Along the path behind the Three Brothers Waterfall
  7. Aged Blue Bird Porcelian (2000 G): Up the hill north of the Three Brothers Waterfall warp statue
  8. Aged Sasquatch Porcelian (2000 G): By the pool of water behind the Three Brothers Waterfall
  9. Fishing Notebook (2000 G): Directly on the path southeast of the Mountain Trail Entrance warp statue
  10. Dance of the Kifu Fairy (2000 G): On the path north of the Mountain Trail Entrance warp statue
  11. Magentocrystal (2000 G): Northern Cliff area, along the western edge of the cliff
  12. Jamie's Hat (2000 G): Southwest of the Southern Cliff farm space

Advanced Level

  1. Archaeopteryx (Photograph, 8000 G): Go to the Crescent Moon Falls Top warp statue, go north until the cliff's edge, then go east
  2. Dinosaur Fang (5000 G): Northeast of the Lost Desert warp statue
  3. Pom-Poms (5000 G): Go to the Shooting Star Shores warp statue, walk into the Rocky Backroad area, and take a right-turn at the first fork in the path
  4. S.C.A.T. Headband (5000 G): The entryway from the Rocky Backroads to the desert
  5. Ammonite (Photograph, 8000 G): Three-Pronged River warp statue, follow the river east. At the beach with the wild Bengal Tiger.
  6. Coelacanth (5000 G): North of the Alley of Sound warp statue.
  7. Mommoth Tusk (5000 G): Half-way between the Alley of Sound warp statue and the Three-Pronged River warp statue.
  8. Coral (5000 G): South of the Herbstburg farm space by the wild Grey Horses.
  9. Crayon (5000 G): On the opposite side of the pond from the Three-Tier Pond warp statue.
  10. Tiara (5000 G): Go to Herbstburg and go through the mountain western exit, then up the land ramp to the west.
  11. Stone Tablet (5000 G): Southwest of the Fall Harbor Hideaway warp statue.
  12. Wedding Ceremony (5000 G): By the northern bridge at the Herbstburg farm space.
  13. Queen of the Night Amber (Photograph, 8000 G): Go into the desert from the Desert Entrance warp statue. Travel to the eastern edge by the wall that runs down the middle of the desert.
  14. Lotus Amber (5000 G): In the first switchback north of the Snow Viewing Spring warp statue.
  15. Hibiscus Amber (5000 G): In the snow field south of Zimagrad, by the pond with four orange trees.
  16. Fishing Master Photo (5000 G): Southwest of the Providence North Mine, along the lake shore.
  17. Starlight Musical Note (5000 G): North of Zimagrad and east of the wild Suffolk Sheep.
  18. Spring Sun Stone (5000 G): South of the western-most pond near the River of Blessing Middle Basin warp statue.
  19. Magic Bean (5000 G): Directly west of the Cape Breeze warp statue.
  20. Spring Crystal (5000 G): Southwest of the Crescent Moon Falls Top warp statue or north of the Cape Sunset warp statue.

Dangerous Level

  1. Daisy Amber (Photograph, 20,000 G): Go to the Snowy Playground warp statue and follow the rocky path to the southeast.
  2. Red Rose Amber (Photograph, 20,000 G): Shooting Star Shore warp point, then go south to the volano entrance.
  3. Charly's Shoes (15,000 G): At the dead end south of the Cool Breeze Hidden Path warp statue.
  4. A Rabbit in Winter (15,000 G): East of the Snowy Playground warp statue.
  5. Snowboard (15,000 G): Next to the Zimagrad West Mine warp statue.
  6. Medallion of Fire (15,000 G): Enter the Volcano from the Foot of the Volcano warp statue, take a right turn, and dig near the second lava pool.
  7. Indigo Wonderful Stone (15,000 G): In the high cliffs northeast of the desert Oasis warp statue.
  8. Shogen's Sword (15,000 G): Volcano Summit warp statue, in the middle of the room.

Treasure Map

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Barn Pooper-Scooper and Feeder

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These two devices will automatically be installed in the farmhouse, and the animal barn after you receive the level 1 Tent from Dave, regardless of the remodel level of your buildings.

The Auto Cleaner will wander around the interior of the animal barn, picking up Compost off the ground. The chicken bot has a storage capacity of 99 poop; once the container is full, the Auto Cleaner won't pick up anymore. Interact with the Auto Cleaner to empty its waste bin into your rucksack.

There are two Mini Auto Feeders - one for your farmhouse (pets) and one for the barn (livestock and poultry). These machines require Animal Feed to activate, holding up to 99 bags to distribute to the empty feed bins.

While these machines will care for barn cleaning and feeding, they don't handle harvesting, brushing, or grazing tasks.