It’s a full-on client update
Rare rolled out a client update today for Sea of Thieves that works to address a range of bugs and improve performance on PC, Xbox One, and Xbox One X.
Along with the big update, which is detailed below, studio head Craig Duncan and executive producer Joe Neate recapped the game’s first week, what’s left to fix, and what’s coming up next. Notably, Achievements may not be unlocking for all players at all times, but they’re still being tracked.
As for future content, Neate says the team has it mapped out. “But then when you get this kind of wealth of data and information and feedback from your players, it really starts impacting ‘Okay, what actually do we want to go and tackle next?’ So we’re right in the middle of those conversations.”
“This is a full game update as opposed to just a patch,” notes Rare. As such, the download is significant, coming in at 9.99GB on Xbox One, 18.97GB on Xbox One X, and 19.53GB on Windows 10.
Sea of Thieves version 1.0.1 “contains a wide array of fixes across our services, stability, and game experience,” according to the studio. “We felt the priority here was releasing the improvements to our player base. For our next client update, we plan to send out a much smaller patch size.”
Fixed Issues
- Players who have redeemed their Black Dog Pack pre-order code will now correctly see these items in their in-game chests. Not received your code? Check your Xbox Live messages over the next couple of days.
- Characters should no longer lose details such as hair colour and scars.
- When digging up a chest, there is no longer a chance that it will be impossible to pick up
- Players should no longer intermittently be missing items and weapons when loading into the game
- Weapon, clothing and ship cosmetic changes made after migrating server will now persist across sessions
- Players will now correctly see other players titles
- Snakes will now behave correctly, turning to face the player when agitated
- Animal and skeleton movement around slopes has been improved
- The game will no longer enter an unresponsive state after accepting a game invitation whilst matchmaking
- Merchant Alliance notifications for handing in various items have been corrected
- Lighting has been tweaked in order to improve performance on multiple islands and outposts
- Fixed tinnitus sound which persists after being killed by multiple explosive barrels.
- Seagulls now fly over floating barrels.
- Players can no longer be held by a seemingly invisible Kraken tentacle.
- Fixed a range of potential game crashes.
Performance Improvements
Significant performance optimisations across all platforms, specifically targeting the 4K native resolution of Xbox One X.
- Drastically reduced the likelihood of tearing when using the small ship.
- Reduced the likelihood of tearing when inside the Taverns.
- Sizeable framerate improvements when traversing large islands.
- Reduced likelihood of framerate hitches when navigating outposts.
- Optimised Foliage for smoother experience in overgrown jungle areas.
Further improvements and optimisations for all platforms are ongoing.
Known Issues
- Player gold and reputation can be delayed when cashing in a reward.
- Player achievements can be delayed.
For an update on both of these issues, please read our Launch Update written by Executive Producer, Joe Neate.- Bounty quest skeletons sometimes do not spawn or cannot be found.
If you encounter this bug, a potential work around is to sail away from the island until it’s out of range, and then sail back in to trigger the Island Name banners.- Joining a player whose ship is parked at an active skeleton fort will prevent the joining player’s radial menus being opened.
- Rare Lore Items throughout the world will read in English, regardless of current language settings.
- “Hunter of Cursed Crews”, Commendation is not updating.
- Players may become comically smaller after fighting the Kraken.
I just love the sound of that last bug.
There have been reports of some players struggling to get into Sea of Thieves with the new game client, and Rare says it’s aware. “Our team are currently investigating an issue affecting Game Pass players and are working to resolve it as soon as possible. We’ll update you as soon as we can.”
Release Notes Discussion – 1.0.1 [Sea of Thieves]
