It wasn’t too long ago that Dying Light 2’s lead designer, Tymon Smektała, stirred up some controversy by suggesting that the Xbox Series S version of the game was limited to 1080p/30 FPS because the hardware was too weak to do any better (“GPU is holding us back”), but apparently, the man was simply trolling, as Techland has delivered a new patch that manages to bring greater performance to users who are stuck with Microsoft’s lower-ended console. Patch 1.2.0 adds Performance Mode to the Xbox Series S version of the game, allowing players to enjoy killing zombies and parkour their way around Villedor at a much smoother and non-nauseating 60 FPS. The patch also adds many fixes and improvements, which can be found below.
We’re fixing the coop issues first, the demand broke Sony/Microsoft/Epic sewers. Motion sickness will be addressed in the first upcoming patch. Fov + motion blur will be considered for the next. 30fps on Series S will be looked at, but the consoles GPU is holding us back.
— Tymon Smektała (@smektalaTM) February 5, 2022
PATCH 1.2.0 FOR XBOX IS HERE! (Dying Light 2)
Xbox patch content:
- Xbox Platform Related Fixes
- Improved game stability.
- A new Balanced Mode added that runs in 60 FPS at Xbox Series X.
- Xbox Series S game modes added, including Performance Mode that runs in 60 FPS.
- Story Progression Fixes
- All known cases with “Deathloops” eliminated.
- Fixed blocks in multiple quests – Into The Dark, Assassination, Sophie in The Raid Quest, Hubert in The Only Way Out, Veronika, Nightrunners, The Lost Light, Double Time.
- Solved problems with safe zones (in-game clock stops, can’t sleep).
- Co-op Fixes
- Stability issues fixed: crashes or black screens in certain situations
- Numerous story progress blocks fixed
- Fixed issues with accepting invites
- Challenges issues fixed: no weapon when inventory full, difficulty balance improved, tools requirements properly handled
- Fixed co-op parties spawning in distant places
- Improved/fixed replication of city open world activities: windmills, hanging cages, loot chests, NPC rescue issues
- Fixed enemies and players falling through the ground in certain situations
- Several performance drops fixed
- Nightrunner Tools Fixes
- Paraglider and Grappling Hook upgrades can be applied correctly for players that obtained them during cooperative sessions.
- Important Combat Improvements
- Improved Biter behavior during the day. The enemy latches onto the players more frequently which diversifies enemy encounters.
- Performance of blunt weapons improved to reflect the sense of weight.
- Improved enemy reaction depending on the type of weapon – to better reflect the weight of the weapon.
- Human opponents can now block players’ attacks during light hit reaction time.
- Light hit reactions for human enemies have been shortened.
- New ragdoll’s behaviors.
- Opponents enter ragdolls more often.
- Ragdoll works more naturally.
- Ragdoll behaves differently depending on the used weapon type.
- Appropriate forces are applied when falling from a height and when hitting different parts of the body while maintaining the force given from the direction of the blow.
- When a ragdoll collides with its surroundings – the appropriate sound and FXs are played depending on the surface the body falls on.
- Improved spikes detection. The enemy is now always stamped on the spikes after a hit. Additionally spikes audio feedback is now improved and new FXs were added (displayed based on the body’s physical momentum).
- Night Improvements and Balance
- Howler’s senses range increased.
- Increased the Howler resistance to range weapons.
- The chase is triggered when a Howler is hit by a ranged weapon and is still alive.
- Volatiles come out of hiding spots faster during the chase.
- Level 4 of the chase is now more difficult.
- UI/UX Improvements
- Survivor Sense now works correctly and can be triggered without any cooldowns after getting hit or performing specific parkour actions.
- Improvements to the Options Menu information architecture incl. a dedicated Accessibility Tab.
- Added feature to show, hide or dynamically display Player Health Bar, Item Selector, and Time of Day Indicator.
- The dynamic setting for Player Health Bar is the new default and hides the bar when the player is at 100% health.
- The dynamic setting for Item Selector is the new default. The Item Selector becomes visible when in combat and when performing combat actions or using D-Pad.
- The dynamic setting for the Time of Day Indicator is the new default setting. The Time of Day Indicator becomes visible during day-night transitional periods.
- All of the widgets that are set Hidden or Dynamic become visible in Extended HUD.
- Visual Improvements to Player HP and Stamina bars. These elements are lighter and their colors are more neutral.
- Visual Improvements to the enemies’ stance meter to more clearly indicate its connection to blunt weapons.
- Improvements to the Final Boss Fight
- Fixed an issue where the opponent does not react correctly to other players and does not change behavior that might lead to several glitches during CO-OP play.
- Alternate opponent behaviors in Phase 2 during CO-OP play.
- Opponent performs area attacks more frequently during CO-OP sessions.
- Shortening the narrative scenes between the phases in a boss fight.
- Boss fight pacing improvements.
- Outro Improvements
- Improvements of the game endings sequences. Additional end-of-game scenes have been added to better align gameplay and outro scenes.
- Balance Tweaks
- Higher Rank Bows are now more easily accessible at Merchants and in the world.
- Banshees and Chargers are now more easily spotted in the Infected hordes during the night.
- Technical Improvements
- Improvements in outdoor lighting.
- Improvements to sun shadows.
- Improvements to spotlight shadows.
- Improvements to Motion Blur – added intensity and distance blur customization.
- Brutality Pack
- Player hits with sharp weapons are now more precise and allow Players to chop off body parts of opponents and cut them in half more easily (vertically and horizontally).
- Reworked audio for enemy hit response – different sounds are played depending on the strength of the hit and the damage the player deals.
- Blood splats on the ground appear when Player hits the opponent.
- If a player is close to the enemy during the attacks, the opponent’s blood will splash on the screen.
- Improved blood effects on enemy bodies after hits.
- A dead enemy is now interactive and reacts accurately to blows and injuries.
- A new effect of bloodstains on the enemies’ bodies after hit.
- New blood FXs have been added.
… and numerous additional bug fixes and quality improvements.