Another big Stalker 2 patch just arrived to fix the main mission, side quests, and input lag

Well, as a seasoned gamer who’s been through the trenches of many a buggy game launch, I can’t help but feel a mix of relief and amusement at the latest patch for Stalker 2. It seems like GSC Game World is taking no prisoners in their quest to squash those pesky bugs one by one. The game might still be a bit rough around the edges, but with patches coming hot on the heels of each other, I’m starting to feel a glimmer of hope that I’ll soon be able to fully immerse myself in the Zone without fear of losing my hard-earned progress.

It didn’t take long; just a few days after fixing numerous mission issues with patch 1.0.2, another patch, 1.0.3, has been released for Stalker 2 this morning to tackle even more mission glitches. Keep in mind that Stalker 2 is quite buggy, so expect multiple fixes like these over time. Also, be prepared for large downloads: today’s update weighs around 20GB.

As an enthusiastic artifact seeker myself, I truly hope this update brings about an enhanced gaming experience for us all. It’s packed with numerous corrections to address crashes and memory issues, disables mouse smoothing and acceleration to minimize input delay for PC gamers, and addresses a myriad of concerns related to the primary mission and side quests.

Most of these fixes involve spoilers, so I’ll redact them below, but you can see the full 1.0.3 patch notes here if you want specifics. Vaguely put: a dead monster was despawning too quickly and players who needed to recover something from its corpse were unable to, some enemies were chasing players further than they should, a couple of essential characters were dying when they shouldn’t, and one dude was becoming insta-hostile if they noticed players using stealth. These are all progress-halting issues, so it’s great that they’re being resolved, especially so quickly after the last patch.

In addition, there are some solutions for AI problems in the game, but it’s not about a comprehensive fix for advanced life 2.0. For instance, NPC stalkers persistently blocking doorways and abnormal behaviors of monsters when shot have been addressed. Furthermore, an issue with the vendor failing to sell specific ammo types has also been resolved.

I haven’t returned to Stalker 2 just yet; I played for approximately 8 hours last week but opted to wait for a few more updates due to an unfortunate issue where my progress was being lost to bugs. It’s reassuring to see that improvements are being made, so I might re-enter the Zone again soon.

Here are the patch notes:

Crashes and memory leaks:

  • Multiple ACCESS_VIOLATION_ERROR fixes.
  • Multiple LowLevelFatalError crash fixes.

Controls adjustments:

Based on the feedback provided, we’ve made changes to these specific settings to minimize delay when processing keyboard and mouse inputs.

  • Mouse Smoothing is disabled by default.
  • Mouse Acceleration is disabled by default.

Furthermore, the defaults of mouse sensitivity have been changed to provide a consistent default gaming experience for our users. The modifications include updates to the following two parameters:

  • Camera sensitivity: 25%.
  • Aim sensitivity: 15%.

Main and side missions:

  • Fixed issue with [spoiler] that were able to chase player outside [spoiler] during the In Search of Past Glory mission.
  • Fixed an issue where the NPCs [spoiler] and [spoiler] would die after trying to enter a building during the mission On the Edge.
  • Fixed issue with [spoiler] which could despawn before player loots a collar from it during In the Name of Science mission.
  • Fixed issue with player potentially locking oneself during Dangerous Liaisons mission.
  • Fixed issue with [spoiler] becoming hostile upon noticing a player [spoiler] during King of the Hill mission.
  • Fixed an issue when [spoiler] despawns in front of the player after the dialog in the bunker during A Heavy Burden mission.
  • Fixed issue with NPC’s despawning when player successfully finishes Legends of the Zone mission.

AI:

  • Fixed an issue with mutant bodies stretching after a shot from an automatic weapon.
  • Fixed an issue that caused NPCs to block the doors during the Back to the Slag Heap mission.

Balance:

  • Fixed issue with  not selling certain ammo types.

Saves:

  • Fixed issues with missing player saves after a hard reboot of the PC/Xbox.

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2024-12-03 22:47