Fallout 76’s New Patch Promises Performance Improvements, Bug Fixes

Less than a week after Fallout 76‘s release, Bethesda has already pushed a big patch out to players — one that clocks in at 47 GBs for those playing on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One and at 15 GBs for PC.

The primary focus of the patch is “performance and stability improvements,” leaving the patch notes looking a bit sparse for an update of this size. That said, it is critical that Bethesda establish a more solid foundation for 76 before implementing the new features and content they have planned.

My time with 76 has been riddled with frame rate and other performance issues (ranging from minor to severe). While I am looking forward to Bethesda fulfilling their promise of increased stash limits and additional content, smoothing out how the game runs is extremely pressing.

It will take some time and exploration to understand the full ramifications of today’s update on performance, but the quick update suggests that Bethesda is committed to rectifying 76‘s very rocky launch.

Additionally, the patch comes with numerous bug fixes. These include fixes to player-vs-player combat, enemy behavior, blueprints, and the “Bureau of Tourism” quest line that has been broken since the game’s B.E.T.A. I am personally looking forward to finally clearing that one from my quest log.

This is just the beginning of the work that needs to be done to right 76, as players continue to encounter serious bugs like getting stuck in their Power Armor, dysfunctional repair perks, and more. However, this update hopefully marks the beginning of a path to something great and Bethesda continues to release improvements so swiftly.

Next time though, perhaps the update file could be a bit smaller?

Stay tuned to GameSkinny for more news, guides, and our review of Fallout 76. And see below for yesterday’s full patch notes.

General

• Performance: Several issues have been addressed to resolve hitches during gameplay and other performance issues.
• Stability: The Fallout 76 game client and servers have received additional stability improvements.
• Xbox: Fixed an issue that could lead to instability on certain menus.

Bug Fixes

Art and Graphics

• Ambient Occlusion: Placed items no longer leave behind shadow outlines after being picked up.
• Camera: The game camera now pans more smoothly when the player enters furniture.
• Graphics: The cover of Tesla Science magazine Issue 9 no longer appears solid red on pickup, or when inspected.

Enemies

• General: Fixed an issue in which some enemies could chase the player farther than intended.
• Loot: Ghoul and Scorched Officers now correctly drop nuke code pieces upon being killed by a player.

C.A.M.P., Workshops, and Crafting

• Blueprints: Fixed an issue that could cause Blueprints to break into smaller parts after logging out and back in to Fallout 76.
• Plans: Paints applied to Power Armor during the Fallout 76 B.E.T.A. will now appear correctly on the items that were painted, and those paints can now correctly be applied to additional sets of Power Armor.
• Repair: Fixed an issue that could cause an item to return to a broken state after being repaired.

Quests

• Bureau of Tourism: The Prickett’s Fort Token Dispenser can now be repaired, and players can no longer walk through it

PVP

• Pacifist Mode: Players with Pacifist Mode enabled who engage in PVP by contesting a Workshop owned by another player will now correctly deal full damage to that player as long as they remain hostile.
• Respawn: Choosing the “Respawn” option after dying during PVP combat will now correctly clear any active hostile status toward other players.
• Seek Revenge: Cap rewards will now display correctly when choosing the “Seek Revenge” respawn option after being killed by another player.
• Seek Revenge: When targeted by another player who is seeking revenge, the reward amount will now display the correct number of Caps that can be earned by killing that player.

User Interface

• Languages: Korean fonts will now be displayed correctly in-game menus.
• Hotkeys: The “Take Photo” hotkey can no longer be rebound and is now tied to the space bar on PC and the A button on controllers.
• Hotkeys: Fixed an issue that could cause the “Take Snapshot” button in Photo mode to display an incorrect hotkey.
• Social: Fixed an issue that could cause players to disappear from each other’s social menus if two players each sent a friend invite to one another.
• Social: Fixed an issue that prevented newly equipped Player Icons from displaying to other players in the Social Menu.