STALKER 2: Huge Patch 1.2 Drops with 1700+ Fixes

GSC Game World has released a massive patch (1.2) for STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl, addressing approximately 1,700 bug fixes and improvements. This update significantly impacts various game aspects, including balance, locations, quests, performance, and the much-discussed A-Life 2.0 system.

Launched in November to positive Steam reviews and over 1 million sales, STALKER 2's success is remarkable, especially considering the challenging circumstances surrounding its development. However, the game's launch was plagued by well-documented bugs, particularly concerning A-Life 2.0, a core feature aiming to create a dynamically responsive and immersive game world. While initially touted as a revolutionary system, its initial implementation fell short of expectations.

Following previous explanations and a first attempt at improvement with Patch 1.1, Patch 1.2 represents a significant step towards realizing A-Life 2.0's potential. The comprehensive patch notes detail the extensive changes:

STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl Update 1.2 Patch Notes

AI

This section boasts over 70 fixes, addressing issues such as NPC corpse looting behavior, improved stealth mechanics, refined mutant combat AI, corrected abilities (like the Controller's roar), and numerous fixes for specific mutant behaviors and interactions. It also includes fixes for AI spawning issues in various locations, preventing endless spawns and resolving blocker issues within quests. Animation fixes and adjustments to shooting accuracy and bullet dispersion are also included.

Balance

Balance adjustments include reductions to the Weird Water arch-artifact's anti-radiation effect, tweaks to NPC damage output, rebalanced pistols and silencers, decreased high-tier armor and weapon spawn rates in early game, adjustments to economy in repeatable missions, and several other minor refinements.

Optimization and Crashes

This section addresses over 100 crashes (including EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION errors) and memory leaks, alongside improvements to FPS during boss fights, pause menu performance, and overall optimization tweaks. A framerate lock has been added to pause and loading screens.

Under the Hood

This section contains over 100 improvements, including the addition of flashlight shadows, fixes for relationship inconsistencies, ammo type renaming, improved cutscene transitions, quest logic fixes, and adjustments to controller aim assist. It also includes fixes for save backups, broken animations, and teleportation issues.

Story

Main Story Line

Over 300 fixes target the main storyline, resolving issues with NPC spawning (Korshunov, Zotov), reputation progression, stealth walkthroughs, dialogue loops, quest objective completion, and various other mission-specific bugs. It addresses problems with item despawning, AI behavior during missions, and overall mission progression and logic.

Side Missions and Encounters

This section includes over 130 fixes for side missions and encounters, addressing issues with mission progression, rewards, NPC behavior, loot, and various other gameplay elements. It also includes level design improvements and fixes for mission-breaking bugs.

The Zone

Interactable Objects and Zone Experience

This section contains over 30 fixes, focusing on level design improvements, visual polish, artifact behavior, anomaly fixes, and various other environmental fixes. It addresses issues with interactable objects, artifact spawning, and overall zone immersion.

Player Gear and Player State

Over 50 fixes in this section address issues with character animations, weapon handling (including grenade and reload animations), anomaly interactions, parkour mechanics, and various other player-related issues. It also includes rebalancing of armor and suit upgrades.

Player Guidance and Game Settings

This section includes over 120 fixes, addressing issues with map tooltips, gamepad controls, HUD elements, item management, cutscene skipping, keybindings, and various other UI and UX improvements. It also integrates Razer Chroma and Sensa effects.

Regions and Locations

Over 450 improvements are included in this section, addressing various issues across multiple regions and locations. These improvements include fixes for getting stuck, environmental issues, anomaly placement, visual enhancements, lighting adjustments, collision fixes, and improvements to audio and overall level design.

Audio, Cutscenes, and VO

Cutscenes

Fixes in this section address issues with NPC models, haptic feedback, and various other visual and technical problems within cutscenes.

Voiceover and Localization

This section includes fixes for voiceover desync, localization issues, and improvements to facial animations during dialogues.

Sound and Music

This section includes improvements to anomaly sound effects, weapon sounds, ambient sounds, music transitions, and various other audio fixes and enhancements across multiple locations.