GSC World has unleashed a substantial update for Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl, packed with over 1,800 changes and improvements across PC, Xbox Series S, and Xbox Series X. This “major update” addresses a wide range of issues, from main and side quests to crashes, bugs, and initial A-Life enhancements. While the download size remains undisclosed, GSC World warns players to expect a lengthy download process due to the sheer scale of the patch.
A-Life Overhaul
Update 1.1 brings significant changes to the game’s A-Life system, improving NPC behavior and interactions within the Zone. Fixes include:
- Eliminating NPCs spawning behind the player.
- Increased frequency of encountering roaming NPCs.
- Expanded visibility range for A-Life NPCs.
- Resolved aggressive optimization issues affecting offline NPC existence and behavior. Offline A-Life now progresses over time, enabling encounters with previously met NPCs.
- Improved offline NPC navigation using GameGraph.
- Enhanced NPC motivation for territory expansion and combat.
- Addressed issues impacting the intended number of encountered NPCs.
- Smoothed transitions between online and offline states for NPCs during contextual actions.
- Diversified the factions and sizes of groups exploring the Zone.
- Fixed communication issues for human NPCs while roaming.
- Further development-related A-Life improvements.
AI Enhancements
Combat and enemy behavior have been refined with numerous AI improvements:
- Reduced Pseudodog phantom summons and increased respawn time.
- Fixed contorted zombie limbs after knockdowns.
- Prevented large mutants from hiding behind small cover.
- Corrected stretching mutant limbs when firing automatic weapons.
- Fixed repeating blood effects on Rat deaths from grenades.
- Addressed issues with NPCs quickly detecting crouched players.
- Fixed NPCs entering doors without opening them.
- Resolved controller control issues with main story NPCs.
- Corrected Chimera behavior in narrow passages.
- Prevented NPC teleportation to restricted areas.
- Addressed cover behavior issues for mutants under fire.
- Improved Burer telepathic ability visuals and throwing object animations.
- Fixed issues with idle NPCs and mission-related dialogs.
- Resolved ongoing mutant attacks on downed zombies.
- Corrected stuck NPC aiming animations and replayed death animations for resurrected zombies.
- Addressed neutrality issues with NPCs after melee attacks.
- Fixed broken NPC arm animations while shooting.
- Improved combat experience and NPC pathfinding in large battles.
- Prevented player exploitation of carousel anomalies to kill Chimeras.
- Addressed NPC clipping issues when shooting from cover.
- Enhanced peaceful NPC behavior and addressed emission-related combat cessation issues.
- Fixed mutant jumping issues and post-emission NPC stuck issues.
- Corrected bandit behavior post-emission during the Bullseye mission.
- Resolved NPC teleportation issues related to route building and post-save dialog.
- Fixed over 50 minor AI anomalies.
Balance and Gameplay Adjustments
Numerous balance changes and gameplay fixes enhance the overall experience:
- Increased rewards for various missions.
- Corrected the maximum effect issue for artifacts with Physical Protection.
- Adjusted the “Goldfish” artifact value.
- Fixed infinite coupon and money exploits.
- Fixed issues with dead A-Life NPC spawns.
- Increased Snork ability cooldown times.
- Increased Gauss rifle damage and Korshunov fight difficulty.
- Recalculated Harpy mission rewards.
- Fixed instant player death related to radiation levels.
- Addressed Poltergeist and Burer damage issues.
- Removed the POS 8x scope from certain merchants.
- Tweaked PSY field damage.
- Implemented over 10 additional minor balance fixes.
Crash Fixes, Performance Optimization
Significant effort has been dedicated to improving stability and performance:
- Refined gamepad dead zones and curves for smoother movement, aiming, and camera control.
- Enhanced performance in densely populated areas.
- Fixed performance drops on NVIDIA RTX 3000 series cards with FSR frame generation.
- Resolved game freezing issues in the “A Light in the End of the Tunnel” mission.
- Fixed compatibility issues with Razer Kishi Ultra and MSI Force Pro Wireless controllers.
- Addressed Xbox X/S controller Bluetooth connectivity.
- Improved controller input overall.
- Fixed visual artifacts in the in-game UI with DLSS enabled.
- Addressed disappearing building issues in the Factory and Yantar locations.
- Optimized water particle and corpse interaction performance.
- Fixed multiple EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION crashes.
- Resolved various Fatal Errors, Low Level Fatal Errors, and Assertion Failures.
- Investigated and fixed over 200 crashes.
Cutscene Refinements
Cutscenes have received attention with numerous improvements:
- Enhanced facial animations and voiceovers in several cutscenes.
- Fixed missing frames, NPCs, and subtitles.
- Addressed idle character behavior and detached body parts/equipment.
- Resolved missing haptic feedback.
- Fixed issues with the final cutscene in “The Eternal Shining” and the cutscene in “Back to the Slag Heap.”
- Corrected invisible Nimble in “In Search of a Guide,” player death in “The Last Step,” and other cutscene-specific issues.
- Addressed over 80 cutscene issues.
Interactable Object Fixes
Interactions with in-game objects have been improved:
- Fixed the closed elevator issue in the X11 laboratory during “Wishful Thinking.”
- Improved physics for ammo boxes and broken lamps.
- Addressed NPC doorway stuck issues.
- Fixed ladder-related clipping and sound looping.
- Corrected interaction sound on dead bodies.
- Resolved door shaking issues caused by NPC contact.
- Standardized interaction prompt distances for loot and bodies.
- Fixed active healing prompts without medkits and non-interactable consumables.
- Fixed up to 20 related issues.
Main and Side Missions, Open World, Player Adjustments, and More… (Similar structure for the remaining sections, focusing on key improvements and fixes)
The update also features extensive improvements to Main Line Missions and Story Progression, Side Missions and Open World Encounters, Open World Direction and Exploration, Player Gear and State, Player Guidance and Menus, Achievements, Saves, and other miscellaneous enhancements. These changes cover bug fixes, localization updates, audio adjustments, visual improvements, and more, amounting to over 500 fixes for foliage, textures, navigation, collisions, object placement, VFX, and other elements.
Conclusion
This massive update for Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl demonstrates GSC World’s commitment to refining and improving the game. The extensive list of changes and fixes addresses numerous player concerns and significantly enhances the overall experience. Players can expect a more stable, polished, and engaging journey through the Zone.
