Stalker 2 Patch Notes Update 1.03 - Roadmap of updates for 2024

Where can you find all the patch notes and update details for Stalker 2? GSC Game World has launched Stalker 2 on PC and Xbox Series X/S. While a day-one patch addresses performance improvements and helps pre-launch issues reported by reviewers, you might be wondering what’s planned for the coming weeks and whether there’s a roadmap for updates in 2024 and beyond.

We had to delay our review due to these issues, wanting to spend enough time with the game to see how it plays after the patch was released. This way, we could get a sense of the core experience that other players will have once the issues are resolved and we’ve explored all aspects of the game. Fran explains it best in his review. Looking for some cheats?

Jump to Fran’s Analysis of the most recent patches.

Stalker 2 Patch Notes - Day One Update Released

Below is the full list of changes from the first patch, which should already be installed for most players:

• 111 Crashes Resolved: ensuring a more stable game experience.
• 135 Minor Tasks Completed: mostly additional optimizations and improvements.

Notable Issues Resolved: Here are some of the key issues that you may have encountered, which are now resolved:

Missing Weapon Sounds: Some weapons were missing their shooting sounds, which severely impacted immersion. This issue has been fixed, and the proper sound effects have been restored.

Quest Node Compatibility for Saves: We’ve corrected a problem with Quest Node State conditions for players using older saves. The compatibility issues have been addressed, ensuring players can progress without needing to restart or reload from earlier points.

Dialog Softlock with NPCs: Players were getting stuck in a dialogue loop with the NPC Gaffer during “On the Edge” without an option to exit the conversation. This issue has been resolved, giving players the ability to smoothly exit conversations.

Weapon Sound Disappearing After Save/Load: In some cases, weapon sounds would disappear either during gameplay or after saving/loading. We have implemented a fix for this, which is currently being tested to ensure it fully resolves the problem.

Dead NPCs and Mutants Stretching: After death, some NPCs and mutants would exhibit strange behaviors such as stretched limbs or distorted bodies. This issue has been fixed, and dead characters should now appear properly without any unusual distortions.

Flying or Hovering NPCs After Death: In “The Freedom Colosseum” wuest, we fixed an issue where NPCs would start flying in circles or remain stuck in an A-pose after death. NPCs should now behave as expected when defeated

A-Life Director Spawning Issues: The A-LifeDirector scenarios were spawning too close to the player’s field of view, which could break immersion. This has been adjusted so that spawns occur outside the player’s immediate line of sight, making gameplay more seamless

Reputation Changes with Military Faction: Players could change their reputation with the military faction through unintended actions. This has been fixed to ensure reputation changes are only triggered through proper quest actions

Cosmetic Issues Addressed:

• UI Improvements: Corrected various visual glitches in the game menus and improved the overall readability of certainin-game texts
• Animation Tweaks: Adjusted minor animation issues for NPCs during conversations, making them appear more natural
• Environmental Fixes: Fixed minor environment clipping issues across several quests to improve visual quality.
• Lighting Adjustments: Improved lighting and shadow quality in certain indoor areas
• Character Appearance: Addressed issues with inconsistent character hair rendering.

Performance Enhancements: 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.
• Memory Usage Optimization: Adjusted the way certain in-game assets are loaded to improve memory management and reduce crashes.
• FPS Drops: Addressed periodic frame ratedrops during key missions, resulting in smoother gameplay in challenging environments.
• Loading Times: Improved loading times forcertain sequences, especially during transitions between quests.
• RAM Management: Resolved issues with channel RAM information missing, leading to more stable performance across various hardware setups.

Quality of Life Changes: We also focused on improving the overall player experience with the following quality of life improvements:

• UI Enhancements: Adjusted the trade and inventory interfaces to provide a more intuitive experience with better visual grouping of items
• Ammo Counter UI Fixes: Default icons were corrected for different weapon types, ensuring clear, consistent indicators during combat.
• Main Menu Music Fix: Addressed an issue where the main menu lacked proper looping for background music.

Stalker 2 Roadmap of Updates for 2024 - Patch 1.0.1 Released

Hotfixes are on the agenda for the first few weeks, but GSC Game World intends to release one more major patch before focusing on these updates. The first major patch was released on 29th November and contained over 650 fixes, including quest blockers, memory leaks, crashes, and minor bugs.

The Patch 1.0.1 is live now on both PC and Xbox Series X/S.

Here’s the full changelog:

AI fixes:

• Fixed groups of NPCs getting stuck and dying near Shelter during active Emission.
• Fixed issue when Burer could drop any mission items out of the player’s hands.
• Added missing sound effects for Burer’s ‘Telekinesis’ ability.
• Fixed issues with NPCs occasionally getting stuck and not reaching the mission location. This might have caused inability to interact with NPC or progress to the next mission stage due to idle behavior of mission NPC.
• Fixed issues with performance drops/potential out-of-memory crashes in hubs and locations crowded with NPCs during long play sessions.
• Fixed issue when NPCs would move to A-pose or start flying after death.
• Fixed issue when NPCs could not track whether a target in cover was covered from shots, which caused them to shoot into cover.

Optimization fixes:

• Fixed issue with invisible NPC/Mutants appearing in FOV while the Player is scoping.
• Fixed fire visual effects that were not rendering at certain camera angles.

Audio & Sound fixes:

• Fixed issue when combat music was still playing while combat was finished.
• And 7 other minor audio & sound bugs.

Balance adjustments:

• Weapons and armor repair cost is decreased.
• Significantly increased cost of artifacts (more revenue from selling).
• Money reward for most missions is increased from 2 to 3 times.
• Rookie difficulty armor and weapons buffs.
• Damage from mutants is moderately decreased on Rookie difficulty (more mutant health balance changes in Combat Balance section).
• Damage to player’s weapon is decreased by 23 percent on Rookie difficulty.
• Armor durability is increased by 12.5 percent.
• Added silencer attachment for PTM to specific stash on Lesser Zone.
• Fixed sell prices for Exoskeletons, they are now more expensive to sell.
• Fixed sell price of upgraded weapons.
• Rebalanced Hercules consumable: player speed debuff removed; increased the effect parameters (now more weight could be carried by player after consuming).

Combat Balance:

• Reduced some mission items’ weight (including weight of scanners)
• Slightly rebalanced Bloodsucker’s damage.
• Decreased Bloodsucker’s strike protection rank (more damage from guns).
• Reduced Boodsucker’s HP regeneration outside the combat.
• Controller HP is moderately reduced.
• Burer HP is moderately reduced.
• Boar HP is moderately reduced.
• Flesh HP is moderately reduced.
• Damage to Boar from headshots changed to 100% of body damage.
• Damage to Boar from shots to the limbs is increased.
• Damage to Flesh from shots to the limbs is increased.
• Significantly increased weapon melee distance.
• Slightly increased knife melee distance.

Gamepad Input:

• Increased gamepad dead zones

Characters:

• Fixed eyes and teeth on NPC models.
• Some minor fixes of NPC models and animations.

Cutscenes:

• Added missing footage to TV displays in the final cutscene.
• Fixed issue with deer animation in the opening cutscene.

Game Settings & Menus:

• Adjusted unreadable text at the bottom of the Shader Compilation screen.
• Fixed issue with the ‘Nvidia Reflex Low Latency’ option not being saved on subsequent boots of the game.

Interactable Objects:

• Fixed physics issues with destructible and movable objects, including those floating in the air.
• Fixed interaction prompt with glass doors in SIRCAA’s inner yard, which caused a walkthrough blocker.
• Fixed missing inner doors in the X-11 laboratory elevator.

Main and Side Missions:

• Fixed missing interaction with dead Blind dogs in the Nightingale’s Hunt mission.
• Fixed uncompletable objectives in the Seek, and You Shall Find mission.
• Fixed multiple issues in the There and Back Again mission, including one where the artifact couldn’t be found.
• Resolved dialog loop with Zotov during the A Needle in a Haystack mission.
• Fixed progression blockers in the Answers Come at a Price mission, including issues with bandits after an emission and missing the Heavy Key item.
• Corrected mission markers for NPC locations in Hot on the Trail mission.
• Fixed door-related issues in the In Search of a Guide mission and The Side Hustle mission.
• Fixed issue when cutscene does not start during the Just Like the Good Old Days mission.
• Fixed issue when Lodochka is missing in Quite’s Camp during the Just Like the Good Old Days mission.
• Fixed an issue during Just Like the Good Old Days when Lodochka acts aggressively after bringing him the Emitter.
• It is now possible to turn off electricity in the flooded area during the To the Last Drop of Blood mission.
• Fixed multiple issues in the On the Edge mission, including idle NPCs, stuck doors, and the Monolith attack progression.
• Fixed progression blockers in the A Minor Incident mission, including issues with Bayun’s collar and locked doors.
• Addressed performance drops and confusing objectives in the In Search of Past Glory mission.
• Fixed issues in the Visions of Truth mission, including stuck NPCs and blocked progression after dialogs.
• Resolved stuck cutscenes and blocked progression in the Dangerous Visitors, Gray’s Last Hunt, and The Eternal Shining missions.
• Corrected spawn behaviors for NPCs and enemies in The Boundary and Escape from the Cage missions.
• Tweaked missions like Down Below, Budmo!, and A Big Score to resolve stuck NPCs, misaligned markers, and missing dialog options.

Open World Experience:

• Fixed stretched or missing limbs on humanoid corpses.
• Fixed missing fast travel routes, including to the Concrete Plant for Toadstool.
• Resolved issues with loudspeakers, fast travel, and NPC interactions in various locations, such as the Scientists’ Bunker, and Chemical Plant.
• Adjusted hostile NPC behavior during the Arena missions, including bandits’ tactics and increased ammo for the Tyrant fight.
• Corrected mission progression in the Black Sheep and The Key to Freedom missions.

Player Guidance, Gear, and Weapons:

• Fixed a bug that allows to sell items to the trader for more money that they actually cost.
• Fixed input blocking issues with the PDA, inventory, and attachments when interacting with artifacts.
• Corrected flashlight behavior after saving/loading.
• Resolved issues with grenade type selection, compass marker overlaps, and missing mission markers.
• Fixed inconsistencies with weapon and armor upgrade effects, including pricing and upgrade reversals.
• Improved HUD behavior and prolonged the duration of “Point of No Return” hints during Down Below mission.
• Fixed a bug where player could sell mission items using gamepad.

Voiceover and Facial Animations:

• Restored missing facial animations for Sava in the Hot on the Trail mission and Mugwort in The Eternal Shining mission.
• Fixed missing voice lines during the Let No One Leave Unsatisfied mission.
• Corrected radio call effects so NPC voices properly reflect distance during communication.

World:

• Fixed flickering textures in various locations, including the Sphere, Military Base and Chemical Plant.
• Resolved movement issues, including getting stuck in certain locations during missions like Once More Unto the Breach and A Tough Awakening.
• Corrected artifact spawn points in some areas.
• Fixed NPC behavior during encounters.
• Adjusted voice volume during storm weather for improved audio balance.

Stalker 2 Update 1.0.2 Patch Notes

This update includes bug fixes for six missions and additional error corrections.

1. Fixed an issue when the second wave would not spawn during the “On the Edge” mission, blocking further progression.
2. Fixed the issue when could be found dead during the “A Minor Incident” mission, blocking further progression.
3. The fixed issue was a player could get stuck after installing the fuse in the Wild Island area if they got the first during the “Just Like the Good Old Days” mission, blocking further progression.
4. The fixed issue was when a player could not successfully complete the “All That is Left” mission while exploring the Chemical Plant region.
5. Fixed issue when quest enemies could spawn in unreachable areas for a player during the “Down Below” mission, blocking further progression.
6. Fixed an issue when could be missing during the “Visions of Truth” mission.
7. A few more EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION errors are fixed.

Stalker 2’s 1.0.1 and 1.0.2 patches are steps in the right direction, but is the game worth playing now?

Analysis from Fran J. Ruiz.

We haven’t shied away from pointing out that Stalker 2 has launched in a less-than-ideal state, but we can also see why and how it’s enticing so many players despite its rocky launch. In our review, we said that GSC Game World’s survival open-world FPS has “a beautiful heart beating under all its broken bits,” and we stand by that. After two large patches full of fixes and tweaks, is it noticeably better?

Considering that optimizations to the game engine and a proper rework of how A-Life works (it currently is a mere shadow of what it’s supposed to be) will take longer to get ready, Patch 1.0.1 was a pretty remarkable first effort a little over a week after launch. It takes care of plenty of critical quest and audio-related issues that, on top of annoying the player, could completely break the immersion, which is admittedly Stalker 2’s strength.

Balance adjustments, on the other hand, have been a bit of a point of contention among the diehards. Adjustments to money rewards and repair costs were essential to make the gameplay loop more rewarding. But there’s a discussion to be had about how many nerfs are too many nerfs when it comes to animal/monster HP and how hard they hit the player. Mind you, Stalker 2 continues to be punishing even on lower difficulties and is far more demanding than games like Fallout 4, yet too much overtuning could turn it into a slightly derivative experience. There’s a ‘harsh survival’ edge to it that should be preserved moving forward.

In any case, Stalker 2 is far from fully fixed, and anyone walking into the Zone at this point should expect plenty of software-related ‘anomalies’ and performance problems that make you wonder whether there was a proper QA process for this game at all. At the very least, it seems to be far more stable now, and ‘playthrough-killing’ bugs are being squashed as we speak.

Stalker 2 Patch Release Date

The next set of patches will address the A-Life bugs and will likely consist of smaller updates, such as hotfixes, over the coming weeks.

A complete roadmap will be shared with us in December.

Patch Name	Platforms	Release Date
Patch 1.3	PC, Xbox Series X/S	3rd December
Patch 1.2	PC, Xbox Series X/S	30th November
Patch 1.1	PC, Xbox Series X/S	29th November
Patch 1.0	PC, Xbox Series X/S	20th November

You can find S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl on Steam.

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