Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus, and the Christmas gift he's delivering is "the first major patch for Stalker 2." Patch 1.1 is out now, and its bulging, anomalous sack is full of over 1,800 fixes for AI, game balance, crashes and, most importantly, the first pokes at the game's busted A-Life simulation systems.
The bad news is that, in inimitable GSC Game World fashion, the full patch comes in at 110 GB, so you might actually be waiting until Christmas Day for the whole thing to squeeze itself down your net pipes.
It looks like it'll be worth it though. If you're not up to date, Stalker 2's A-Life system has been iffy ever since the game out a month ago. In previous Stalker games, A-Life was the thing responsible for making The Zone feel actually alive: Full of weird goings-on and little dramas that the games' systems spawn in and play out completely separate from you as a player.
GSC didn't quite get the whole thing working in UE5 for Stalker 2's release, though, leading to players wondering if it had been yanked entirely.
Luckily, it was just delayed. Per Stalker 2's 1.1 patch notes GSC has "Fixed the aggressive optimization issue that prevented A-Life NPCs to exist in Offline (out of player's visualization range)."
Plus, "In Offline mode, A-Life will continue to advance towards their goals over time" and "Players may now have opportunities to encounter A-Life NPCs they've previously met by following in the same direction as the NPCs." The inner life of NPCs is back, baby. We're stalkin' again.
On top of that, NPCs should now be more keen to "expand territory and actively attack enemies and mutants," and you should encounter more—and more varied—people as you travel around The Zone. That last one is most noticeable for me, to be honest. The Zone still felt pretty alive when I played Stalker 2 before this patch, but I did notice that I hardly ever ran across factions like Duty and Freedom in my adventures.
Anyway, there are plenty of non-A-Life fixes too, and you can find them all below. Most notable to me are the tweaks to balance—it looks like GSC is making Stalker 2 a little more forgiving by amping up quest rewards and making certain artifacts more valuable. Don't say the devs never gave you nothin'.
Stalker 2 patch 1.1 notes
A-Life Fixes
- Fixed the issue with spawning NPCs behind the player's back.
- Players can now encounter roaming NPCs across the Zone more often.
- Greatly extended the distance at which A-Life NPCs are visible to the player.
- Fixed the aggressive optimization issue that prevented A-Life NPCs to exist in Offline (out of player's visualization range).
- In Offline mode, A-Life will continue to advance towards their goals over time.
- Players may now have opportunities to encounter A-Life NPCs they've previously met by following in the same direction as the NPCs.
- Improved A-Life NPCs navigation in Offline using GameGraph (global AI navigation map):
- Fixed multiple issues where NPCs would fail to follow or find a path to their designated goals.
- Fixed several issues with NPC being stuck in Online-Offline transition state,
- Enhanced A-Life NPCs' motivation to expand territory and actively attack enemies and mutants.
- Fixed issues that could result in fewer A-life NPCs encountered than intended.
- Further contextual actions improvement to ensure seamless transitions between Offline and Online states for NPCs engaged in these actions.
- The groups exploring the Zone are now more diverse regarding possible factions and group sizes.
- Fixed issue that while roaming over the Zone, Human NPCs didn't satisfy their communication needs and talks.
- Some other development related improvements.
AI Improvements
- Reduced the number of summons and increased time between spawns of Pseudodog phantoms.
- Fixed an issue when zombies would have their arms and legs twisted while knocked down.
- Fixed an issue when large mutants would hide behind small cover, such as trees.
- Fixed an issue when mutant limbs stretch sometimes when firing automatic weapons.
- Fixed an issue when bloody visual effects played a few times after Rat's death from grenade.
- Fixed an issue where NPCs quickly detected the player when he was crouching.
- Fixed an issue where NPCs would enter doors without opening them.
- Fixed the issue when the controller could take the main story NPCs under control.
- Fixed an issue when Chimera would try to enter a narrow passage that it couldn't enter instead of hiding in ambush.
- Fixed an issue when NPC was teleporting to the restricted areas such as safe zones and hubs.
- Fixed an issue where mutants that were in cover did not change their cover when receiving damage.
- Fixed visual effects of Burer's telepathic ability.
- Minor combat behavior fixes for NPCs shooting from covers.
- Fixed Burer’s throwing objects animation.
- Fixed some issues with NPC staying idle and refusing to start mission-related dialogs.
- Fixed an issue when mutants kept attacking zombies in knockdown.
- Fixed an issue when NPCs are stuck in aiming animation.
- Fixed an issue when death animation was replayed for an NPC who was resurrected as a zombie.
- Fixed an issue when a neutral NPC stays neutral after a player hits them by melee attack.
- Fixed an issue with some NPCs' broken arms while shooting.
- Generic improvement of combat experience and NPC pathfinding in big fights with lots of corpses.
- Fixed an issue when Player was able to kill the chimera with the help of carousel anomaly.
- Fixed an issue where NPCs would clip through objects and walls when shooting from covers.
- Minor improvements for peaceful behavior of NPCs.
- Fixed issue where NPCs wouldn't stop combat on emission start.
- Fixed an issue when some mutants couldn't jump off an obstacle.
- Fixed issue when NPCs were stuck after the end of emission.
- Fixed bandits' behaviour after emission ends during the mission Bullseye.
- Fixed an issue where NPCs could teleport if the NPC couldn't build a route.
- Fixed an issue where NPCs could stop talking to each other after loading a save.
- Fixed an issue when mutant dead bodies fly to a long distance from the places where they were killed by the shotgun.
- Over 50 more minor “anomalies” were fixed.
Balance Adjustments
- Increasing rewards for several missions.
- Fixed issue when artifacts with Physical Protection effect give maximum possible effect.
- Changed "Goldfish" artifact value to 14000 coupons.
- Fixed issue when player is able to have infinite coupons via selling and returning back any stackable consumable.
- Fixed infinite money exploit with splitting a stack of weapons from selling windows.
- Fixed issue when A-Life NPC's can be spawned dead with full clips of ammo.
- Increased Snork's abilities cooldown time by 30%.
- Gauss rifle damage was increased.
- Increased difficulty for the fight with Korshunov.
- Recalculated rewards for the Harpy's missions.
- Fixed instant player death after getting almost full radiation bar.
- Fixed that Poltergeist and Burer do not deal damage with thrown objects in some cases.
- Removed the POS 8x scope from the assortment of several merchants.
- Tweaked damage from PSY fields.
- Over 10 more minor fixes delivered.
Crash fixes, performance, and optimisation
- Investigated, and applied further improvements to dead zones and curves for gamepad movement, aiming and camera controls for a more smooth and controllable experience using sticks on controller.
- Performance improvements in largely populated areas of the map.
- Fixed performance drops on NVIDIA RTX 3000 series video cards with enabled FSR frame generation.
- Fixed issue with game freezing on exiting a tunnel during A Light in the End of the Tunnel mission.
- Fixed issue with not working Razer Kishi Ultra controller, which connected via Bluetooth or cable connection.
- Fixed issue where MSI Force Pro Wireless Controller didn't work via Bluetooth or dongle connection.
- Fixed issue when Xbox X/S controller didn't work via Bluetooth connection.
- Controller input improvements.
- Fixed issue with visual artifacts in In-Game UI with DLSS enabled.
- Fixed issue when building disappears in player's camera at Factory location.
- Fixed issue with a building near Yantar popping into Player's view while approaching it.
- Fixed fps drops that could be created by large amounts of water particles.
- Fixed fps drops during interaction with corpses in shallow water.
- Fixed multiple EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION crashes.
- Fixed multiple Fatal Errors, Low Level Fatal Errors, and Assertion Failures.
- Overall, over 200 crashes were investigated, and further fixes were implemented.
Cutscenes
- Multiple improvements to facial animations and voiceover for both languages in several cutscenes.
- Fixed an issue with missing frames in several cutscenes.
- Fixed an issue with missing NPCs in several cutscenes.
- Fixed issue when main characters and NPCs can have idle behavior or detached parts of the body/equipment in several cutscenes.
- Fixed an issue with missing subtitles in several cutscenes.
- Fixed an issue with missing Haptic feedback in several cutscenes.
- Fixed an issue with the final cutscene not playing in The Eternal Shining mission.
- Fixed the issue where the cutscene at the end of the Back to the Slag Heap mission did not start.
- Fixed an issue with invisible Nimble during the cutscene of In Search of a Guide mission.
- Fixed an issue where Player could die during the cutscene during the The Last Step mission.
- Overall, over 80 cutscenes issues were addressed.
Interactable Objects
- Fixed an issue when the elevator in X11 laboratory was closed after loading save during Wishful Thinking mission.
- Fixed physics for ammo boxes and broken lamps.
- Fixed some issues where NPCs could get stuck in a doorway at different locations.
- Fixed issue where ladder descends, sound could loop and Players would clip through the ladder after climbing from it.
- Fixed sound on interacting with the dead body.
- Fixed issue where NPC touching the door during movement or combat caused the door shaking.
- Fixed that interaction hints for loot and pick-up bodies appeared at different distances from the body.
- Fixed the interaction prompt for healing being active when the player did not have medkit.
- Fixed the issue when some consumables could have been non-interactable.
- And up to 20 other related issues were fixed.
Main Line Missions and Story Progression
- Fixed over 15 bugs related to the On the Edge mission, including issues when Hamster and Ricochet dying after entering the Zalissya clubhouse, bugs that prevented the Slavko Pharmacist from healing, allowed monolithians and mutants to get inside the Hamster's shelter, and others.
- Fixed multiple issues with A Minor Incident mission, including an issue where journal stage Ask Richter about the scientists was cancelled instead of completed after dialog with Richter if Player already had a mutant's collar, and bug with misleading marker in "Acquire the collar from the mutant" objective.
- Fixed multiple issues in the Visions of Truth mission, where Scar might not spawn if loading a previous old save, “anomaly” where Scar could become hostile to the Skif, bug where the Player couldn't start the dialogue with the Representative, and other things.
- Fixed an issue when the player was unable to start dialogue with Richter after beating the monolith squad during The Last Wish mission.
- Fixed an issue when Player could get a softlock by wounding Richter and making him hostile during The Last Wish mission.
- Fixed an issue when Faust clone was leaving his place at the balcony while the player fought with Monolithians during The Assault on the Duga mission.
- Fixed an issue with Faust being stuck during a bossfight in The Assault on the Duga mission.
- Fixed an issue when the player was unable to help the soldier, surrounded by Monolithians during the Just Like the Good Old Days mission.
- Fixed an issue with Lodochka being dead at Quiet's camp during Just Like the Good Old Days mission.
- Fixed an issue when a player was unable to progress through the Subtile Matter mission if he looted mission items before the mission started.
- Fixed an issue with an absent Regenerator during An Act of Mercy mission.
- Fixed an issue with the elevator in the X-11 Labs would remain closed during the mission Wishful Thinking.
- Fixed an issue when Player could get stuck in Ventilation under ARL building during Wishful Thinking mission, if headed there before talking to Kryvenko.
- Fixed an issue with Nightingale not giving the mission dialog after killing blind dogs in the Dogfight mission.
- Fixed the blocker where it was impossible to start the dialogue with Strider after turning off the scanner during Hot on the Trail mission.
- Fixed an issue with A Sign of Hope side mission being not available after completing Hot on the Trail mission.
- Fixed an issue when prof. Lodochka was missing from his mission location during or after emission if A Sign of Hope mission was completed.
- Fixed an issue with endless Ward guards spawn in Chemical Plant during Escape from the Cage mission.
- Fixed an issue where Player was not able to complete Explore Echo Station journal stage for Dead Frequency mission if Shterev was found before getting intel from team Bravo.
- Fixed the stealth path to Roosevelt during the King of the Hill mission.
- Fixed the issue where after the bossfight with Faust, controls and horizontal camera movements are disabled after loading a save.
- Fixed the issue with the unskippable black screen after the ending cutscene in There and Back Again mission.
- Fixed the issue with absence of intro cutscene in There and Back Again mission.
- Fixed the blocking issue where the objective Talk to Warlock about Hamster could not be completed if the player killed the Hamster before speaking to Gaffer during the On the Fire mission.
- Fixed an issue with the active Bandit Mayhem mission after Player returns cargo to Huron.
- Fixed an issue when the body of Bayun in collar disappears when he is killed during summoning action.
- Fixed an issue where Jumper and Bluish would become hostile after attacking Hog's squad during Shift Change mission.
- Fixed an issue where users were able to access unintended areas at the Red Fortress location.
- Added armors with psi defence for the "Get Psi Armor" objective during Ad astra per aspera mission.
- Fixed issue with zombies standing idle at the pumping stations in Swamps region during Ad astra per aspera mission.
- Fixed an issue when Monolithians were present in the Infirmary during the Happiness for Everyone mission.
- Fixed a softlock issue where Answers Come at a Price mission doesn't progress after bandits at Depot were killed after emission.
- Fixed the bug with Scar PDA missing after bossfight.
- Fixed an issue where the Dark Times mission could not be completed after talking to Arkhyp Lichen during the Emission.
- Fixed an issue where Monolith NPC could spawn in the closed garage during the The Boundary mission.
- Fixed an issue that could cause Korshunov to disappear during a bossfight.
- Fixed an issue where Scar would not die after destroying the last monitor during a boss fight.
- Fixed an issue where Korshunov could be missing at marker location if Emission starts while player approaches Answers Come at a Price mission location.
- Overall, over 250 bugs and blockers were fixed in the Main Missions section.
Side Missions and Open World Encounters
- Fixed an issue when player could kill spectators during Arena fights on Rostok.
- Fixed an issue when enemies could leave the Arena during the emission mid The Freedom Colosseum mission.
- Improved balance for Arena fights on Rostok.
- Fixed an issue when the guide in Enerhetyk Palace of Culture Hub could be used after point of no return during Down Below mission.
- Fixed issue when Warlock's missions were uncompletable after the Signal.
- Adjusted when Pseudogiant appears after Vadyk Firecracker starts playing the melody.
- Fixed situations when A-life NPCs killed Seryoga Root, Senya Noose and Haryk Jacket.
- Fixed NPC blocking the passage in some areas of 100 Rads Bar.
- Fixed Ward technician reputation.
- Fixed an issue when encounters with monolithians at Agroprom Underground didn't start after completing In Search of Past Glory by Spark.
- Fixed an issue when the Mytryk Genius gun remains as a mission item after killing the NPC that gives the mission to find it.
- Fixed the issue when NPCs from the Rookie Village are missing after the The Legends of the Zone mission.
- Fixed an issue when users can remain locked inside Lodochka's Lab when they shoot a Noontider NPC before the door closes.
- Disabled spawn of monolithians before activation of Wish Granter at SIRCAA.
- Fixed issue where encounter with begging Stalker wouldn't start after Monolith comeback.
- Fixed some issues in dialogue with NPCs at the Chemical Plant.
- Fixed an issue where Kirya NPC was teleported away from Player after getting reward from him at 100 rads Bar.
- Fixed an issue that could cause the game to freeze during the dialog in the mission A Matter of Honor.
- Fixed an issue where the player was not able to find encounter with prof. Zaretskyi after the end of the All that is left mission.
- Fixed an issue where NPC Crest could be missing at the The Sound of Music mission location after talking to them during the Emission.
- Fixed an issue where the player was not able to progress the missions from Warlock after the end of the On the Edge Mission.
- With over 100 more bugs fixed.
Open World Direction, Exploration, and Zone Experience
- Fixed that Lightning Ball sometimes gets stuck during movement in Opachychi village.
- Fixed that sometimes artifacts did not appear in arch anomalies.
- Improved dead bodies physics.
- Fixed when player's equipment was damaged while player was crouching in Razor.
- Fixed corpses disappearing issue.
- Fixed stretched texture on some trees in the open world.
- Fixed an issue with Toxic Cloud anomaly idle VFX.
- Fixed an issue with rat swarms spawning above the cave in Mist archanomaly.
- Fixed an issue when characters became wet in dry spaces after loading the last save.
- Fixed an issue with sharp weather changes present at 4:30 morning time and 23:59 night time.
- Fixed that Wandering lights anomaly doesn't always spawn its artifact.
- Fixed issue with Bulba arch-anomaly sometimes not appearing.
- Fixed issue with non-lootable corpses spawning at the border between Cordon and Lesser Zone regions.
- Fixed that player was unable to reach the artifact near "Abandoned Hamlet" on Swamps.
- Increase distance for combat barks.
- Fixed an issue where NPCs would get stuck in a doorway during the emission in Zalissya hub.
- Fixed an issue where NPCs could spawn and get stuck on isolated surfaces (cars, boxes etc.).
- Improved bullet penetration visual effects.
- Improved cloth simulation for corpses of NPCs.
- Fixed issue with blood decals.
- Fixed an issue where far distance areas of the environment appeared too bright at night.
- Fixed an issue where Zombies' waking-up animation was restarted every time Player looked away.
- Fixed an issue where sometimes an emission started during a cutscene would not end.
- Fixed an issue where diggers around the Slag Heap did not stop being aggressive to Player after the end of combat.
- And some other improvements.
Player Gear and Player State adjustments
- Fixed issue that helmets don't have Psi and Rad protection.
- Fixed issue with armors "SSP-100 Discovery" and "SSP-99 Ecologist" have no PSI protection.
- Fixed issue when players can not install Lead Container upgrade on PSZ-5V Guardian of Freedom Suit.
- Smoke was made less intense at shots from a weapon with silencer.
- Fixed broken arm during magazine attachment to machine gun.
- Fixed bullet visibility in magazine during reload.
- Added splashing sound for bolts hitting the water surface.
- Fixed an issue where empty shells were ejected instead of bullets when unloading after ammo type was changed.
- Improved interruption for animation sequences with weapon reload and consumable items usage.
- Fixed issue with bolt impact sound missing during long distance throws.
- Minor fixes for rifle scopes appearance.
- Fixed issue with items not being consumed when used via quick slot hotkeys.
- Fixed issue where main weapon upgrades were applied to installed underbarrel modules.
- Minor fixes for animations of jammed weapons.
- Fixed an issue when the player was able to equip the detector with the primary weapon simultaneously.
- The cause of death is now correctly displayed on the Death Screen.
- Fixed issue where Player would clip into the wall or other object while performing a melee stealth kill close to it.
- Fixed issue with VFX particles for psy phantoms missing, when shooting close to their models.
- Fixed an issue that could cause losing controls after playing guitar.
- Fixed an issue where player could get unlimited carrying capacity, upgrading unequipped armor.
- Fixed an issue where player could get unlimited stamina after starting dialog while crouched.
- And over 50 other issues were addressed.
Player Guidance, Game Setting and Menus
- Updated in-game tutorials to improve first time user experience.
- Fixed an issue where the player would approach a mission location and new weapons would randomly spawn and equip in hand.
- Fixed an issue where the player is unable to swap compared weapons' positions while trading.
- Enabled upgrades for X7 suit.
- Added possibility to revert detachment of pre-installed modules in Upgrade menu.
- Added unique markers for mutants with electro collars.
- Reworked UI of system notifications for received items.
- Updated descriptions of multiple armor upgrades.
- Fixed issues where mission markers on NPC disappeared forever after NPC became hostile towards Player.
- Removed ability to trade with NPCs at Noontide base.
- Reworked a few UI elements in the Upgrades menu of the PDA.
- Reworked design for a few icons in the PDA menu.
- Fixed an issue where the upgrade tree UI changed its direction inconsistently after switching between different weapons.
- Fixed missing animation for ammo type change from gamepad.
- Fixed threat indication appearance after closing the main menu.
- Fixed missing mouse scroll sound in PDA.
- Fixed that output device option resets after restarting the client.
- Fixed issue when after loading a specific save file, a black screen appears.
- Removed redundant pop-up window on resetting settings to default.
- Upscaling quality settings in options were translated.
- Stashes marker color changed to violet.
- Fixed technicians not being able to install certain armor upgrades.
- Fixed that SSP-100 Discovery armor cannot be upgraded by any technician.
- Fixed an issue where consumables could not be applied via quick slots.
- Fixed issue where crosshair doesn't appear after reload if R button was pressed again.
- Fixed scrolling issue inside a note in PDA.
- Fixed an issue where the user would move slowly and was unable to sprint after loading a save file that was created when the user was leaning.
- Fixed issue with "HDR White Point" option.
- And almost 100 other “anomalies” were fixed in this section.
Achievements
- Fixed the issue when "The four Winds" achievement cannot be received.
- Fixed issue when "Bingo" achievement cannot be received.
- Fixed issue when players were unable to unlock achievements in the EGS store.
Saves
- Fixed the issue when the player was unable to load existing saves after the title and steam process was terminated unexpectedly.
- Fixed issue with missing save files after PC\Xbox hard reboot.
Other improvements
- Over 15 localization and voiceover updates.
- Over 40 audio adjustments and volume tweaks of various types.
- Over 20 improvements to some character and NPCs visuals appearance.
And over 500 fixes for
- Foliage.
- Texture flickering.
- Bugs in navigation meshes.
- Collisions.
- Errors in object positioning and contextual actions.
- VFX-related fixes.
- Non-destructible objects.
- And more.
