S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl Major Update Released
Just a month after its launch on PC and Xbox Series X|S, GSC Game World’s S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl has garnered a substantial following among survival shooter enthusiasts. Despite its success, the game faced notable criticism due to numerous bugs affecting gameplay. In response to player feedback, the developers have introduced their first substantial update, aiming to rectify these issues.
Patch 1.1 Overview
The new Patch 1.1 is now available on both PC and Xbox platforms, encompassing an impressive array of over 1,800 fixes across various game systems. Key focus areas addressed in this update include artificial intelligence (AI), cutscenes, interactive objects, quests, exploration mechanics, gear management, save features, and more. Improvement to the A-Life simulation has also been a significant focus, enhancing the game’s immersive experience.
Key Fixes and Improvements
The following are some of the critical updates that gamers can expect:
- Improvement in performance for RTX 3000 series graphics cards when using FSR frame generation.
- Resolved issues with NPCs detecting crouched players, effectively breaking stealth gameplay.
- Elimination of several crash scenarios reported by users.
- NPCs will no longer spawn directly behind players, allowing for more realistic interactions.
- Idle NPCs will continue their normal activities even in the player’s absence.
Enhancements to A-Life Simulation
The update also introduces significant enhancements to the A-Life system, which aims to deepen the game’s realism and interactivity. Here’s a breakdown of the improvements made:
- Resolved the NPC spawning issue behind the player.
- Increased frequency of encounters with roaming NPCs throughout the Zone.
- Expanded visibility range for A-Life NPCs.
- Corrected the optimization problem that previously prevented A-Life NPCs from existing in Offline mode.
- A-Life NPCs will continue to progress towards their objectives while Offline.
- Opportunities for players to encounter previously met A-Life NPCs by following the same direction.
- Improved navigation for A-Life NPCs in Offline mode through the GameGraph.
- Fixed issues causing NPCs to fail in reaching their intended goals.
- Resolved bugs that could lead to NPCs getting stuck during Online-Offline transitions.
- Strengthened NPCs’ motivation to expand territories and engage enemies and mutants.
- Addressed issues resulting in fewer A-Life NPC encounters than expected.
- Enhanced contextual actions for smoother transitions between Online and Offline states for NPCs.
- Diversified groups roaming the Zone regarding factions and sizes.
- Improved communication behaviors of Human NPCs within the Zone.
Downloading the Patch
The comprehensive changelog for Patch 1.1 can be accessed here. Due to the extensive nature of the patch, the developers have opted not to detail every single change included in the update.
The studio acknowledged the bulk of the patch, stating, “We understand that the size of the patch is huge and the process of downloading will take some time. We appreciate your patience and are actively working to improve this aspect for future updates.”
Update Sizes
Players on Steam might need to undertake a substantial re-download, as the update size approaches 110GB. Conversely, Xbox Series X|S users are looking at a considerably lighter download, estimated to be around 12GB.
For ongoing updates and information about S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl, please visit the official channels.
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