GSC Game World, the developers behind STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl, have released a significant update, Patch 1.2, which addresses over 1,700 issues and improvements, particularly enhancing the A-Life 2.0 system. This patch is described as "massive" and impacts various facets of the game, including balance, locations, quests, blockers, crashes, performance, and the A-Life 2.0 system itself.
Since its launch in November, STALKER 2 has garnered positive reviews on Steam and achieved 1 million sales, marking a remarkable success for the Ukrainian studio amidst the challenges posed by Russia's 2022 invasion. However, the game has been plagued by bugs, notably with the A-Life 2.0 system. This system, which was a highlight of the original STALKER game for simulating AI behavior in the game world, was expected to bring unprecedented life and emergent gameplay to the Zone in STALKER 2. Unfortunately, at launch, A-Life 2.0 fell short of expectations, leading to doubts about its functionality.
In response, GSC Game World has been proactive, with Patch 1.1 in December marking the beginning of their efforts to rectify the issues, followed by the comprehensive Patch 1.2. Below are the detailed patch notes for STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl's update 1.2:
AI
- Fixed a bug with A-Life NPCs unable to properly approach corpses. Now they can pick up the best loot and weapons from them, and switch to more powerful weapons.
- Improved corpse looting behavior for NPCs.
- Fixed an issue where NPCs could loot body armor and helmets from corpses.
- Fixed an issue where NPCs could not loot the corpses of NPCs from another faction.
- NPC shooting accuracy reconfigured.
- Bullet dispersion accuracy for all distances and weapons reconfigured.
- Added randomization of accurate shots in bullet sprays.
- Reduced wall penetration from certain NPC’s weapon bullets.
- Improved Stealth.
- Fixed an issue where after a melee attack, the NPC could end up behind the player.
- Adjusted the time of identification of the player character by NPCs.
- Fixed an issue where NPCs at Malachite location could notice players at a long distance and through objects.
- Improved mutant behavior in combat.
- Fixed an issue where AI wouldn't avoid obstacles and get stuck during scripted combat.
- Fixed an issue where jumping mutants could get stuck in the air in certain conditions.
- Fixed that Controller ability does not work through grate doors.
- Fixed that mutants were not able to attack in certain positions.
- Fixed an issue where Chimera could jump through objects.
- Fixed issue where Chimera did not use jump attack.
- Fixed an issue where Deer summons could spawn in the player's field of view.
- Fixed an issue where Poltergeist could activate an anomaly and receive damage from it.
- Fixed an issue where mutants with the ability to jump were running around the Player on elevated, unreachable surfaces.
- Fixed an issue where Pseudodog couldn't create summons when retreating.
- Added roar ability for Controller.
- Fixed an issue where A-life NPCs did not heal friendly wounded NPCs.
- Fixed an issue where A-life could spawn corpses near the player.
- Fixed an issue that could cause A-Life NPCs to have access to quest locations.
- Fixed the absence of some characters that could lead to a blocker during the walkthrough of the main line.
- Fixed an issue where A-Life militaries could spawn endlessly near Rookie Village.
- Fixed the issue with a stuck guard NPC in the doorway at the Skadovsk location.
- Fixed issue where more rats spawned in the lair than there should have been.
- Fixed an issue where NPC may get stuck after loading saves made right after Emission ends.
- Fixed an issue where weapons grabbed by the Burer ability would disappear.
- Fixed an issue with NPC animations when walking upstairs with a gun in hand.
- Improved animations for some mutants.
- Fixed that player takes damage near the NPC that is going through zombification.
- Fixed an issue where NPC may be stuck in the doorway after emission and block the player.
- Fixed an issue where shooting at mutant limbs could stretch them.
- Fixed use of NPC rifle stand position when standing with a pistol.
- Fixed an issue where NPCs could spawn in front of the player at the Sphere location.
- Fixed NPC's repeatable cover animations.
- Fixed an issue where NPCs would stop in doorways on Rostok.
- Fixed NPC's walking animation during stand in combat.
- Fixed an issue where enemy NPCs did not react to flying bullets.
- Improved open world combat with Pseudogiant near Abandoned Science Campus at Prypiat.
- Fixed an issue where an NPC with a closed helmet could eat, smoke, and drink through the helmet.
- Fixed an issue where animations of death from an anomaly could be missing for some mutants.
- Fixed an issue where Lex Legend and his group could not return to the quest location after the end of Emission.
- Fixed a problem that made it difficult for rats to move in narrow places.
- Fixed an issue where Burer could snatch a quest weapon from the player's hands.
- Fixed an issue where NPC could start searching for an enemy after warning players to hide weapons.
- Reduced spawn rate for Bloodsuckers before the completion of the Behind Seven Seals mission.
- Fixed the issue when NPC can block a doorway in the Quiets camp after combat.
- With additional 70+ issues fixed.
Balance
- Weird Water arch-artifact anti-radiation effect was reduced.
- Fixed issue when a grenade could deal damage to Burer when the shield was active.
- Now NPCs need fewer shots to kill Pseudodog summon.
- Increased frequency of Jump Attack for Blind Dog mutant.
- Rebalanced pistols and silencer attachments.
- Decreased spawn rate for NPCs in exoskeletons.
- Reconfigured the number of armor NPC are wearing. Increased the chance of spawning low and mid-tier armor, while the chance for top-tier armor to spawn was reduced.
- Increased damage from radiation depending on accumulated rad-points.
- The chance of spawning NPCs with high tier weaponry in early stages of the game was reduced.
- Added ability to trade with additional NPCs at Hubs.
- Economy tweaks for *A Job for the Barkeep* repeatable missions on Veteran difficulty.
- And a few more minor balance tweaks were made.
Optimization and Crashes
- Fixed FPS drops during boss fight with Faust.
- Fixed an issue with performance drop on closing PDA or Pause Menu.
- Slightly improved performance by disabling navigation mesh rebuild properties for multiple objects.
- Fixed memory leak related to item manipulation.
- Fixed over 100 EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION crashes and other errors, including some other minor memory leaks.
- Fixed input lag after enabling VSync with enabled FidelityFX Frame Interpolation.
- Added Framerate lock during the pause menu, main menu, and loading screens.
- And some other optimization tweaks.
Under the Hood
- Player's flashlight now casts shadows on objects.
- Fixed the issue where relationships with NPCs didn't change.
- Changed names of some ammo types.
- Fixed the issue where the title could unexpectedly freeze during dialogues.
- Fixed the issue where some quest logic couldn't start after the NPCs death.
- Improved transitions from cutscene to game.
- Fixed a generic issue where mission logic could break if Player gave an item to an NPC via dialogue option.
- Fixed the issue where the dialogue with NPC was closing after exit from the Trade/Upgrade.
- Fixed an issue where the Player was teleported outside the playable area.
- Added custom Aim Assist logic for invisible targets for all supported controllers.
- Fixed an issue where save backups could be missing after losing game saves.
- Fixed NPC's broken animations while smoking.
- Fixed an issue where NPC could teleport outside the playable area of the map.
- Fixed achievement to sneakily clear the lair.
- Fixed the issue where In Game saves become corrupted after deleting local saves and unsuccessful cloud saves sync.
- Polished PDA models look in low light areas.
- With over 100 other improvements implemented in both sections: Optimization & Crashes, and Under the Hood.
