How Items Work
There is no such thing as a useless item in The Long Dark. Everything is important for some aspect of survival. I suggest collecting everything you can and storing it in a known location, no matter how mundane it seems. You will probably need it eventually when you learn what to do with it.
Item Condition
Most items have a condition that will decrease until it breaks or spoils. The item's condition is displayed as a percentage on its inventory icon.
The condition of an item will sometimes affect its usefulness. For instance, a rifle that's low on condition will jam frequently. This does not apply to all items, however. A hatchet, for example, is just as useful at 100% as at 1%. However once an item gets to 0% and breaks, it cannot be repaired.
Some items, like tools, degrade only when they're used and can be repaired with other items before they break. Some items, like food, simply degrade over time and cannot be repaired, so use it before it's gone.
Item Respawning
Some items will "respawn" (reappear in the game after being picked up), while others will not.
Does respawn:
- Wildlife (big and small game, predators, crow feathers)
- Fire fuel and tinder (limbs, branches, sticks, coal, birch bark - but not shrub bushes)
Does not respawn:
- Man-made items (like tools and packaged food)
- Living natural resources (saplings, mushrooms, rose hips, old man's beard, cat tails, shrub bushes, etc)