A million copies sold for STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl in the space of two short days, relief is in order for the developers of GSC Game World, who continue to thank the players for this unwavering support. And indeed, the Ukrainian studio can be grateful to their community, especially when we know how the game was released in a battered version, even with the 140 GB patch that was deployed on release day. Because even if fans are happy to find the harshness of the Zone, it’s difficult not to point out the enormous optimization concerns of the PC version. GSC Game World also sent a message to explain that they are continuing to work hard to improve the experience, but also to correct all the bugs that are present. Here is what has already been corrected by the developers. Yeah, it’s tough.
“Over the past few days (from the first review build), our team has fixed 1,125 issues. Among these, we find:
- 70 “Priority 0” bugs: including 32 critical walkthrough blockers.
- 511 “Priority 1” bugs: major issues, including 36 conditional procedure blockers for which workarounds were initially required.
- 544 “Priority 2-5” Bugs: Minor issues affecting gameplay.
- 111 crashes resolved: ensure a more stable gaming experience.
- 135 minor tasks completed: mainly additional optimizations and improvements.
Notable issues fixed: Here are some of the key issues you may have encountered that are now resolved:
- Missing weapon sounds: some weapons did not have firing sounds, which seriously affected immersion. This issue has been fixed and the correct sound effects have been restored.
- Quest node compatibility for saves: We fixed an issue with QuestNodeState conditions for players using older saves. Compatibility issues have been resolved, ensuring that players can progress without needing to restart or reload from previous points.
- Locking dialogue with NPCs: players were stuck in a dialogue loop with the Gaffer NPC for “On the Edge” without the possibility of leaving the conversation. This issue has been fixed, allowing players to exit conversations smoothly.
- Weapon sound disappears after saving/loading: In some cases, weapon sounds disappear during gameplay or after saving/loading. We have implemented a fix for this issue, which is currently being tested to ensure it completely resolves the issue.
- Dead NPC and Mutant Stretches: After death, some NPCs and mutants exhibited strange behaviors, such as stretched limbs or distorted bodies. This issue has been fixed and dead characters should now appear correctly, without unusual distortions.
- NPC flying or gliding after death: In “The Colosseum of Liberty” we fixed an issue where NPCs would start flying in circles or get stuck in an A pose after death. NPCs should now behave as expected when defeated
- A-Life Director Appearance Issues: the scenarios by A-Life Director appeared too close to the player’s field of vision, which could break immersion. This has been adjusted so that spawns occur outside of the player’s immediate line of sight, making gameplay smoother
- Reputation changes with the military faction: players could modify their reputation with the military faction through unforeseen actions. This issue has been fixed to ensure that reputation changes are only triggered by appropriate quest actions.
Cosmetic issues treated:
- User interface improvements: Fixed various visual issues in the game’s menus and improved the overall readability of some in-game text
- Animation changes: adjusted minor animation issues for NPCs during conversations, making them more natural
- Environmental fixes: Fixed minor environment clipping issues in several quests to improve visual quality.
- Lighting settings: improved quality of lighting and shadows in some interior areas
- Character Appearance: Fixed issues with inconsistent rendering of character hair.
Performance improvements: we’ve also made numerous performance optimizations to ensure the best possible experience:
- Major freeze fixes: Fixed several issues that caused the game to freeze during intense cutscenes or crowded areas.
- Optimizing memory usage: Adjusted the way certain game resources are loaded to improve memory management and reduce crashes.
- FPS drops: Periodic frame rate drops during key missions have been fixed, allowing for smoother gameplay in harsh environments.
- Loading time: Improved loading times for certain sequences, especially during transitions between quests.
- RAM management: Fixed issues related to missing information on RAM channels, leading to more stable performance on different hardware configurations.
Changes in quality of life: We’ve also focused on improving the overall player experience with the following quality of life improvements:
- User interface improvements: Adjusted commerce and inventory interfaces to provide a more intuitive experience with better visual grouping of items
- Ammo Counter UI Fixes: Fixed default icons for different weapon types, ensuring clear and consistent indicators during combat.
- Fixed main menu music: Fixed an issue where the main menu was missing a proper loop for background music.
To be addressed in the first patches:
- “Like old times: the transmitter in Faust’s cell is indistinguishable from the usual mesh and environment, making it difficult for the player to notice an important quest item while progressing through the quest. »
- “The Colosseum of Liberty: The player was unable to participate in the fourth round in the arena despite meeting all prerequisites
- Game settings and controls: keyboard shortcut for flashlight activation cannot be changed when entering keyboard settings
- Title stability: In rare cases, the title may close unexpectedly right after choosing the difficulty level
- A memory leak caused issues with faces: a memory leak and a visual bug that occurred when the edit instances check mark was disabled while the face was not rendered.