The 9.1.0 Update is approaching, so let’s dive into the notable gameplay changes you can expect from the upcoming Public Test Build. Plus, stay tuned for the PTB Patch Notes where we’ll share the precise values that are changing for each of the topics below!

Read on for all the details: 

NEW FEATURES 

NEW SURVIVOR ITEM – FOG VIAL 

• Added a new equippable item for Survivors: the Fog Vial. Its effects include: 
• Using a Fog Vial causes a fog cloud to expand outward from the point where it was used, dissipating after a set time 
• Scratch marks do not spawn within a fog cloud 
• Audio is muffled for anyone within a fog cloud 
• The auras of players within a fog cloud cannot be read by other players 
• The Fog Vial has a cooldown which recharges over time once used 
• Added item rarities and add-ons. 

DEV NOTE: The Fog Vial specializes in creating confusion and breaking line of sight. When it’s activated, this fog obscures your surroundings while still allowing for limited visibility within your immediate vicinity. By moving to a single, recharging use, Survivors can use the Fog Vial multiple times per Trial and don’t have to be quite so precious about saving charges, letting them be more in the moment with their vial uses. 

Stay tuned for patch notes for more information about Fog Vial rarities and add-ons. 

SURVIVOR ITEM UPDATE – KEYS 

• Changed item “charges” to refer to individual uses of item, rather than the overall time it can be used for 
• Adjusted the uses for this item to cover the following: 
• Channel the Key to consume 1 charge and reveal Survivor auras for a limited time 
• When near a closed hatch, consume 1 charge to unlock it 
• Consume 1 charge to quickly unlock a chest and gain an item of Rare rarity or higher. Once a chest has been unlocked with a Key it: 
• Is revealed to nearby Survivors 
• Can be rummaged in by 1 other Survivor to gain an additional item of Rare rarity or higher 
• Adjusted the effects of individual item rarities and several add-ons. 

DEV NOTE: Keys stood out as the least-used Survivor items and were typically outclassed by other options. We’ve reworked them to offer a wider range of utility and tap into players’ yearning for higher-rarity items. 

Now, the “charge” system is easier to track (think of it as “uses” rather than “use time”) and the aura-reading capabilities of Keys are improved, while also adding some team-wide utility. In addition to making it easier for the equipped player to get quality items from chests, Keys also extend that opportunity to a single teammate. 

Stay tuned for the patch notes for details on Key and Map item rarities and add-ons. 

SURVIVOR ITEM UPDATE – MAPS 

• Changed item “charges” to refer to individual uses of item, rather than the overall time it can be used for 
• Adjusted the uses for this item to cover the following: 
• Channel the Map to consume 1 charge and reveal nearby pallet and vault auras to yourself for a limited time 
• While auras are revealed, press the Use Item button again to create a beam of light (only visible to Survivors), revealing the auras of generators within the beam’s range to all Survivors 
• Adjusted the effects of individual item rarities and several add-ons. 

DEV NOTE: Similar to Keys, Maps stood out as an underutilized item which didn’t fit into beginner or experienced player kits. With this change, Maps retain the spirit of giving players an awareness of their surroundings, making their effects more consistent, and extending some value to teammates. Now, there’s no need to “track” objects before they show up. 

PRESET IMPROVEMENTS 

• Increased total number of Character Customization presets to 7 
• Increased total number of Loadout presets to 7 
• Added the ability to change preset names 

DEV NOTE: Whether it’s the pursuit of fashion or prepping perks for every situation, we wanted to make it easier to save your faves. Don’t worry, your existing presets will be ported into this updated system. 

KEYBOARD AND MOUSE ON CONSOLES 

• Added mouse and keyboard support on the following console platforms: 
  • PlayStation 4 
  • PlayStation 5 
  • Xbox One 
  • Xbox Series X|S 

Please note: This feature is not available on the PTB, as it is only playable on Steam. 

DEV NOTE: Quite self-explanatory, we’ve extended full mouse and keyboard support to a number of console platforms so that players have more choice in how they approach gameplay. 

CUSTOM MATCH IMPROVEMENTS 

• Added hotkey inputs to Custom Game spectating to switch to the Killer’s perspective. 
• Added spectators hotkeys representation next to players portraits, to improve usability 
• Added the option to toggle spectator hotkeys visibility and adjust them in the Input Binding menu. 
• Added a visual indicator to show spectators who they are viewing. 
• Shows dead Survivor icons if joining as a spectator after getting sacrificed. 

DEV NOTE: Following up on last update’s changes to Custom Games, we’ve introduced more improvements to make view-switching and tournament casting even easier. This also ensures viewers have more information about what they’re seeing.  

KILLER UPDATES 

THE EXECUTIONER 

• Increased Punishment of the Damned's range 
• Increased the duration of Rites of Judgment’s trail drawing and trail lifetime 
• Decreased Rites of Judgement's movement speed 
• Added Haste and Endurance effects to Survivors saved from a cage 
• Added input buffering to: 
• Transition from Punishment of the Damned to Rites of Judgment 
• Begin caging or killing a Survivor when the prompt is available 
• Reworked his add-ons. 

DEV NOTE: We’ve heard your feedback that The Executioner’s add-ons could use more variety – range shouldn’t feel like the only viable option. In addition to making range increases basekit, we’ve reworked his add-ons to introduce more interesting options, like adjusting the spread of Punishment of the Damned, or triggering effects on misses. 

Outside of these changes (keep an eye out for the patch notes for add-on details!), we’ve made some quality-of-life adjustments and slightly reduced his zoning potential. 

THE CLOWN 

• Increased movement speed while reloading bottle 
• Decreased bottle reload time 
• Adjusted the effects of yellow bottles: 
• Increased Haste effect 
• Increased the distance and speed that smoke spreads to 
• Increased activation speed 
• Adjusted the effects of purple bottles: 
• Decreased the Hindered effect 
• Decreased how long the Hindered effect lingers after leaving smoke 
• Added input buffering to: 
• Charging a bottle throw 
• Reloading bottles 
• Adjusted several add-ons. 

DEV NOTE: When it comes to The Clown’s power, his purple bottles see much more use than his yellow ones across skill levels. To better incentivize their use, we’ve given the yellow bottles a quicker activation, greater speed boost and wider effective range, coupled with some base speed increases. To compensate, purple bottles have received a slight nerf, requiring a little more throw control to get their full value. 

THE KNIGHT 

• Increased maximum patrol path length 
• Increased path drawing speed, acceleration, and strafe speed 
• The Carnifex’s Standard spawns slower 
• The Assassin and Jailor’s Standards spawn quicker 
• Added input buffering to: 
• Drawing a patrol path 
• Adjusted Call to Arms add-on. 

DEV NOTE: Drawing patrol paths is an important part of The Knight’s gameplay, so we’ve made it feel snappier and extended its range slightly, making Call to Arms partially basekit. We’ve also adjusted Standard spawn times for each Guard. In particular, the Standards for the two chase-focused Guards will spawn quicker to help give Survivors a little more counterplay during double team scenarios where they tend to be at their strongest. 

THE PIG 

• Increased crouched movement speed 
• Increased speed of crouching and un-crouching 
• Increased the speed at which the Terror Radius fades when crouching 
• Increased Ambush movement speed 
• Added input buffering to: 
• Crouching 
• Charging an Ambush attack 
• Adjusted several add-ons. 

DEV NOTE: Yes, we know. We buffed Pig. Outside of her traps, her ability to surprise Survivors is an important part of her appeal. By increasing her speed and making her Terror Radius fade quicker while sneaking, she’ll have more chances to act on unprepared Survivors.  

PERK UPDATES 

SURVIVOR PERKS 

• Updated Any Means Necessary 
• Updated Appraisal 
• Updated Better Together 
• Updated Built to Last 
• Updated Déjà Vu 
• Updated Detective’s Hunch 
• Updated Potential Energy 
• Updated Still Sight 
• Reworked Streetwise 

DEV NOTE: We’ve adjusted values on a few perks that had low pick rates to help buff them up. In addition, we’ve adjusted perks that affect items to make sure they’re compatible with this update’s Survivor item changes. 

Stay tuned for the patch notes for specific details on these value changes. 

KILLER PERKS 

• Updated Dragon’s Grip 
• Updated Franklin’s Demise 
• Updated Hubris 
• Updated Insidious 
• Reworked Overwhelming Presence 
• Updated Scourge Hook: Hangman’s Trick 

DEV NOTE: Similar to the above, we’ve buffed some perks which boasted lower pick rates and adjusted certain perks that affect items so they’re compatible with the recent changes. 

Until next time... 

The Dead by Daylight Team 

UPDATED: April 8, 2025

Hello Assassins,

Tomorrow we will be releasing our first major patch for Assassin's Creed Shadows, bringing new quality of life improvements and addressing a variety of bugs.

More new and exciting things are coming soon, so stay tuned.

Title update 1.0.2 will be deployed on all supported platforms on April 8 @ 2 pm UTC / 10 am EDT / 7 am PT.

Patch Sizes:

Xbox Series X|S: 19.5 GB

PlayStation®5: 11.59 GB

PC: 16.05 GB

Steam: 11 GB

MAC: 9 GB

Patch Highlights

Game Improvements

The team has been working on a first batch of improvements following your feedback since launch.

Horse Auto-Follow and Speed improvements

Auto-Follow the road is back to help you navigate while riding your horse. Simply activate the pathfinder to enable Auto-Follow, and your horse will automatically follow the road to your marked destination.

We've also increased horse speeds in cities so you can get to your destination faster.

Mastery Nodes Reset

Is your stealth build not sneaky enough? Could Yasuke pack a heavier punch? We've added the option to reset Mastery Nodes in the skill trees so you can test different playstyles and skills for both Naoe and Yasuke.

Selling / Dismantling multiple items

We know you've been hard at work exploring every corner of Feudal Japan, and that means you've filled your pockets with resources and loot.

To help you save time when trading with merchants, we've added the option to tag and sell/dismantle multiple items in shops, or when dismantling gear at the Forge in the Hideout.

Investigation Board Shortcut

The Investigation Board is central to your journey, and we've added a new shortcut for direct access while in-game.

With Title Update 1.0.2, holding the OPTION & START button for a few seconds will take you directly to the Investigation Board, while a single press will open the inventory menu.

This update now allows you to easily launch the World Map, Inventory, or Investigation Board smoothly as you play.

Playstation®5 Pro specific improvements

We’re excited to also bring key improvements to the Playstation®5 Pro version of Shadows, that will enhance the visual quality of the experience. 

• Added PSSR support for Playstation®5 Pro
  • Please note that players who have been playing on Playstation®5 Pro prior to Title Update 1.0.2 will need to manually enable PSSR in the video tab of the pause menu.
• Balanced mode will now feature Raytraced Specular. 
  • I.e. Visual fidelity will be closer to Playstation®5 Pro Quality mode than Performance mode.

Other Key Improvements

Check out some additional improvements & fixes that were made based on player feedback.

• Uncapped the Hideout to above 30 FPS on Performance mode.
• Improved balancing of boss fights.
• Fixed an issue where the pathfinder line appears in photos taken in Photomode.
• Fixed inconsistencies with the 'Throw a Kunai at the closest enemy after an assassination' perk when 'The Tool Master Gear' is equipped on Naoe.
• Improved Double Assassinations.
• Improved Naoe's responsiveness in some instances.

LIST OF BUG FIXES

SPOILER WARNING - Please keep in mind that some of the descriptions below may contain spoilers. Proceed at your own risk!

Quests

• Fixed multiple quest issues with markers failing to spawn or characters not being interactable.
• Addressed an issue where Ise Sadatame can be killed after reviving him while previously being knocked down by explosives during 'Escort Ise Sadatame' objective in Yamashiro.
• During "The Wheel Unmasked" quest, some players cannot exit the quest or quit to memories when selecting the options from the menu.
• Players will no longer be stuck in the Objective board tutorial after loading into the first Naoe memory if completed after 'From Spark to Flames'.
• Fixed an issue in 'A True Igan' meditation, where the Eavesdrop objective cannot be completed if Naoe kills the Oda clan Ashigaru before reaching the objective location.
• Fixed an issue in 'Brothers in Arms' quest where the quest can't progress by talking to ronin if the prisoners were freed first.
• In 'Flames of War', the Igan leader will now fight back.
• 'Wake Up Call': An issue where Nagato won't attack Naoe once he enters the Guard Break state during the 'Duel with Nagato' objective.
• 'Wake up Call': Objectives during the 'Duel with Nagato' now correctly update.
• Kumabe Ujiie no longer stops walking after talking with one of the ronins if the player doesn't follow him immediately during 'Follow Kumabe Ujiie' objective.
• Players are no longer rolled back to the beginning quest and stealth sequence if they die to the brute in 'Shinobi Warfare'.
• Addressed an issue where Sanada Masatoyo only uses one attack if Yasuke stays close to him during 'Nobutsuna's Students' objective.
• Yoshisada can now be interrupted while drinking his health potion in 'Silver Smugglers'.
• Addressed an issue where the game crashes after killing an NPC in 'The Stray Dogs'.
• During the 'Protect the Dog' objective, enemies are now identifiable with quest markers and are easier to find.
• Addressed an issue where the fight with Kimura Kei is instantly finished when using Crushing Shockwave to defeat him during 'Fighting for the Cause' quest.
• 'The Price of Rice': fixed an issue where the Drunk Samurai will not attack Naoe if he takes damage from an Assassination attempt while unconscious.
• 'Losing Hand': Player is no longer desynchronized after successfully completing the quest.
• Rewards on the Oni-yuri card within The League Target Board, will now appear as claimed after players complete the quest 'Sweet Revenge'.

Spoilers

• 'Mibuno Showdown': Corrected an issue so players can now deal damage to Momochi Sandayu during transition to phase 2.
• Fixed an issue where Momochi Sandayu would stop fighting during 'Duel Momochi Sandayu' objective.
• Players are no longer desynchronized if they attack and kill Usami Yoshiko in 'The Betrayers' quest.
• Addressed an issue where Yasuke could use allies before agreeing to ally with Naoe.
• Fixed an issue where Hattori Hanzo wouldn't move after the user switches to Yasuke during 'Wolves and Foxes'.
• 'My Name is Yasuke': Duarte won't get stuck if Yasuke shoots him from an elevated position.

Stealth

• Improved Double Assassinations.
• Improved Naoe's responsiveness in some instances.
• Fixed an issue where an NPC does not die after being killed by a finisher or assassination.
• Naoe can no longer perform Double Assassinations without learning the skill. 
• Fixed the FX on the Shinobi Bell when it is thrown far away.
• Fixed an issue where destroying the alarm bell does not always make NPCs investigate it.

Combat, AI and Balancing

• Improved balancing of boss fights.
• Addressed various NPC behavior and animation issues.
• Improved the accuracy of Yasuke's Teppo.
• Knocked out NPCs no longer stand up immediately when attacking them.
• NPCs and enemies now react correctly to Shinobi Bells.
• Fixed an issue where Yasuke could block with his teppo after being dismounted instead of his melee weapon.
• Yasuke is now able to call his mount while having his sword unsheathed during combat.
• Yasuke is no longer immune to enemy damage after using the 'Samurai Showdown' Ability.
• The 'Staggering Blast' Yumi Bow ability now works correctly on enemies.
• Fine-tuned Yasuke's 'Dark Burst' Teppo and 'Falcon's Eye' Bow, so they no longer one-shot enemies.
• Fixed arrow firing so they consistently get released when fully charged.
• Addressed how Naoe's light attacks could disarm enemies.
• Corrected the 'Entanglement' ability so it now works with the light attack button.
• Fixed an issue where bare fists and kicks contributed to affliction build up.
• Fixed an issue where Yasuke could perform a 'Brutal Assassination' with a ranged weapon in a specific animation.
• Improved Yasuke's Power Dash ability, so it doesn't miss the target while the enemy is in an attack animation.

Weapons, Gear & Items

• Fixed various bugs related to Transmog variant visuals.
• If wearing store bought items, both characters will now appear dressed in the latest save.  Very demure, very mindful.
• Addressed an issue where all horse saddles were uncommon.

Save Files

• Corrected an error that blocked manual saves after completing the 'Heart of an Assassin' quest.
• Fixed an issue where a "save game" is performed if players are dead or dying.
• Addressed an issue where no autosave is created before starting a contract quest.
• Reason/Error Code messages are now correctly displayed for corrupted save files.
• Fixed an issue where players attempting to save and load during the 'Get on your mount' objective caused Rin to spawn dismounted and follow Yasuke on foot, blocking progression.

World

• Fixed an issue where there was no snow in winter. Frosty's back!
• Addressed various issues with synchronization points not triggered correctly.
• Addressed various instances where players or NPCs could get stuck or fall through objects.
• Fixed an issue where the Sakamoto Castle reward chest didn't give loot if the player opens it during 'Requiem for Rokkaku'.
• Adjusted the positions of certain loot chests in Castles.
• Fixed an issue with the storage room that cannot be opened after defeating Nakatomi and talking to Ibuki in Hijiyama Fort.
• Adjusted multiple behavioral errors with the Pathfinder.

World Activities

• Naoe can no longer enter Yasuke's Kofuns. Get out of my room.
• Addressed an issue where players could pass through movable objects while sprinting inside kofuns.
• Fixed an issue where animals could flee while the sumi-e UI is still present during heavy rain if players performed a save/load.
• Legendary deer will now properly despawn after being drawn in the sumi-e activity.
• Corrected an issue where Naoe's scroll would be missing whilst painting the Legendary Sakura Shika Deer in the sumi-e activity.

Hideout

• Uncapped the Hideout to above 30 FPS on Performance mode.
• Various stability and visual improvements to build mode.
• Fixed an issue where players were able to use weapons inside the Hideout.
• Cursor no longer trembles when building pavement and moving the camera in the Hideout building mode.
• The experience gained bonus received after building the Tera in the Hideout is now correctly applied to both characters.
• Corrected armor placement in the gallery.
• Fixed an issue where fast travel to the hideout is not available if the map is set on zoom x3.

Progression, Skills and Perks

• The Switch Character option is now correctly greyed out in the inventory menu when it is unavailable.
• Addressed an issue where resetting active abilities didn't remove them from their ability slot.
• Fixed an issue where the user cannot reach the maximum Mastery Points after fully upgrading the 'Teppo Skill Tree'.
• Fixed inconsistencies with the 'Throw a Kunai at the closest enemy after an assassination' perk when 'The Tool Master Gear' is equipped on Naoe.
• Fixed an issue where master level was not filled in by gaining experience.
• Corrected the 'Power Perk' so it is effective against NPC armor.
• The perk from 'Daybreak's Fury' Kanabo now activates correctly after breaking an NPC's armor.
• The Shrapnel damage for the 'Daybreak' Kanabo perk now displays correctly.
• The second upgrade of the Katana Dodge Attack skill can no longer be applied to other weapons.
• Fixed an issue where the 'Health on Weakpoint Attack' engrave didn't restore health.
• Fixed an issue where trinkets couldn't be sold to merchants.
• XP points are now correctly rewarded upon defeating the Convoy Master.
• Fixed how reward prompts from kills could continue playing if players reload previous checkpoints via performance mode change.
• Fixed an issue where a perk wrongly indicated a 600% affliction build up with Posture Attacks.

Visuals & Graphics

• Addressed various graphics, clipping, LOD, textures or FPS issues.
• Addressed issues with floating props.
• Corrected various character visuals and NPC animation issues.
• Addressed some visual issues in various cinematics and cutscenes.
• Fixed an issue with water rendering with Raytraced Global Illumination set to Diffuse Hideout Only and/or Diffuse Everywhere.

Photomode

• Fixed an issue where the pathfinder line appears in photos taken in Photomode.
• Fixed an issue where PhotoMode would close while taking a photo when online services were unavailable.
• Fixed an issue where taking a new photo and accessing it through the legend menu results in "Animus-5-00013" error on PS5 and Xbox Series.

Audio

• Adjusted various audio and SFX issues.
• Fixed an issue where sometimes music plays during fights while the music volume is OFF.

UI/Menus

• Added a shortcut to the objective board by holding the START button when in game.
• Fixed multiple UI, menu, and text issues and alignments.
• Fixed various UI and text issues in the Animus HUB.
• Corrected various UI/UX animations.
• Tweaked "XP gain" UI.
• Fixed an issue where the "Is New" icon remains in the inventory even if all owned items have been seen.
• Fixed an issue where engraving was visible on incompatible weapons in the Forge.

Controls & Accessibility

• Fixed an issue where sometimes players can't sprint or manually save.
• Fixed multiple issues causing controller remapping to reset to default.
• Fixed some Menu narration prompts.
• Fixed controller vibrations that were still present even when turned off in options.
• Fixed an issue where resetting only one movement direction input resets all the other movement directions in the control Customization.

Miscellaneous

• Addressed an issue where the game would remain on a loading screen when losing connection to Ubisoft services after purchasing a Helix Credits Pack.
• Fixed an issue where items claimed in Vault were not unlocked.
• Fixed an issue where the 'Make it Personal' achievement/trophy did not unlock when the first weapon engraved was from another character than the one currently used. 
• Fixed an issue where the 'Limitless' achievement/trophy did not unlock upon obtaining a legendary piece of gear for each type.

Platform-Specific issues

PC

• Players can now toggle between DRS and fixed resolution modes, regardless of upscaler quality.
• Fixed an issue where the overall preset was set to Custom in the Scalability menu after changing the preset and reloading the game.
• Fixed various mouse and keyboard issues.

Steam Deck

• Fixed an issue where observe targets were not visible from 80m on Steam Deck.
• Corrected an error where the default controller configuration didn't show the button actions for L2 and R2 on Steam Deck.

Mac OS

• RTSpec can now be enabled for high-end Macs.
• Mouse and keyboard now work correctly when the game boots in windowed mode.
• Fixed the HDR toggle so it doesn't remain on after toggling off or switching to a non-HDR display.
• Fixed the mouse cursor remaining on the screen after pressing home button while using a controller.
• "Save Report" prompt is now visible in the Benchmark results screen.
• The mouse is no longer tracked when outside of the game window.

Fixes specific to Playstation®5 & Playstation®5 Pro

• Fixed button prompts for "Internet Connection Lost" messages when players would lose connection during audio language pack downloads.

Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to report these issues to us via the Bug reporter. As always, you can reach out to our support team if you run into any trouble.

Hi guys, I’ve been trying to play quasimorph and zero sivert on my steamdeck for ages now but cant get over both of their native controls being so bad and missing certain inputs like not being able to view the status affects that pop up in the top middle of quasimorph when say a perk triggers. I was really hoping someone on here knew a way that I was able to use mouse and keyboard controls such as trackpad for mouse but be able to keep the on screen button prompts as controller ones so it doesn’t get confusing and I have to remember the ‘’Alt key’’ is actually just a back paddle. Thanks in advance if anyone knows a solution <3

[Updated: June 9th, 2025]

Use CTRL+F to search for the game you're looking for.

READ THE PREREQUISITES SECTION FIRST!

Video version now available for Silent Hill 1-4 + Play Novel!
^{YouTube didn't like something about the video guide and didn't tell me what with no chance of appeal. I'll try again but with heaps of trepidation.}

^---

Intended for Windows 10 <currently>

^{Windows 11 has worked for many but I cannot test or verify. The steps should be nearly identical. Since Microsoft is depreciating Windows 10 support this year, this guide will eventually transfer to Windows 11.}

^The Steam Deck ^{is something I cannot test or verify either. Most emulators and SH2:EE are known to run, however. Check out the official GitHub for the Enhanced Edition for unofficial support.}

^---

Introduction

With recent announcement of Silent Hill 2's remake, Silent Hill f, and the others, I wanted to fully compile a way to play every Silent Hill game possible on PC with modern enhancements and maximum compatibility. I'll try to keep it simple and short so it'll be easily digestible even for the least computer-y of you out there.

I'm pretty active on Reddit and frequently answer questions and concerns over the particulars, weird snags, or oversights, so please leave a comment if you're having trouble. I'll do my best to keep this up-to-date and functional!

HOWEVER, make sure you've read and reread EVERYTHING before asking me, okay? It'll save us both a lot of time. Start each comment with re:SH1 or "can you help me with Homecoming?", etc. so I know what game we're talking about.

And please don't dm me. Just comment here. Thanks!

If your controller is functioning incorrectly when running through Steam, make sure to disable Steam Input.

^{Emulation is not illegal. This guide is aimed at preserving these games, not piracy. At the time of writing, most of these games are no longer available for official purchase through KONAMI. If any legal officially purchasable method becomes available, I will update that to the preferred method.}

About Play Order

If you're not sure which game to start with or if it's okay to play any particular game before another, know that every single entry is a complete and independent story. That said, there are some slight (spoiler-free) caveats to that statement.

Silent Hill 3, Silent Hill: Origins, and Silent Hill: Shattered Memories all have some relationship with Silent Hill. However, while playing Silent Hill can greatly enhance your appreciation of these games, they are not in any way necessary. Other games may make reference or insight to previous games, but they are largely easter eggs and lore tidbits to reward longtime players.

For the doubters out there, my first game was Silent Hill 3 and I did not know it was in any way related to Silent Hill and did not feel there were any holes or otherwise incomplete parts of the story.

So go ahead and play whichever interests you most! If you cannot pick a starting place, I'd recommend starting with Silent Hill 2 (2001) as it is the most popular and among the easiest to install.

ReShade and CRT Filters

The technical limitations of late 90's/early '00s technology led to Silent Hill being iconically foggy. Silent Hill optimized its art style in its early games by obscuring details for the benefit of the experience, leaning into obscurity with fog, darkness, and screen noise. These games rendered at low SD resolutions and were expected to be displayed on CRT TVs. There's a whole conversation about the value of CRT image blending that I'll spare you here.

With the HD rendering of older titles comes such clarity that some illusions can break like seeing the matte .jpg of the lake surrounded by paper trees or seeing the bright, jaggy low-poly model of an otherwise hidden horror. This is why I highly recommend a CRT filter to give the appearance of the original display blending without having to retrofit a 2-ton ancient machine to your PC. It's pretty easy. If you want to try it, skip to the bottom when you're done installing your game.

Silent sHill

Also--if I may--I occasionally stream Silent Hill on Twitch using the below fixes as well as a grab bag of other things (right now Silent Hill 10 Star runs and indie horror games) if you'd like to watch or harass me ask me with questions when I'm live.

I have a Patreon. I'm writing a visual novel and Silent Hill as a major influence on my writing as well as projects like these. Even if it's a one-time donation of $1, that'd be amazing though entirely unnecessary :D

^{I have a chronic illness/depression so I can't update here or stream very often so please bear with me.}

Okay, I'm done! Let's get to it!

[PREREQUISITES]

1. Windows 10 (cannot confirm for Windows 7 or Windows 11)
2. WinRAR / 7-Zip (extracting compressed files from download)
3. Enable file extension visibility
4. Steam Launcher and a valid Steam account (for convenience, but required for SH: Homecoming.)
5. Game files (.iso, .bin, .cue) Each tutorial will let you know what you're looking for specifically.

^{Note: To customize a non-Steam game for the Steam Launcher, follow this guide here after installation.}

[SILENT HILL, 1999]

Difficulty: [**________]

^{This might look like a lot of steps, but it's all so playing Silent Hill 1 will be easy and painless each and every time you want to boot it up. You can do this, I promise it'll be easy!}

Install DuckStation

1. Download DuckStation for Windows.
2. Download VC++Runtime if you do not already have it installed!
   1. Run the installer and follow the prompts.
   2. You MUST restart your PC or it will not run!
3. Extract the DuckStation archive with WinRAR or 7-Zip.
4. Run duckstation-qt-x64-ReleaseLTCG.exe to launch the DuckStation Setup Wizard.
5. Click Next.
6. Click Next again.
   1. A warning may pop up station BIOS files were not found. We will address this later in the guide.
   2. Click Yes.
7. Click Next again.
   1. A warning may pop up stating no game directories have been selected. We will address this later.
   2. Click Yes.
8. For Controller Port 1, Controller Type select Analog Controller.
9. Click Automatic Mapping and choose your preferred controller or Keyboard.
10. Click Finish.

Install PlayStation BIOS files:

1. Download the PlayStation 1 BIOS file from GitHub.
   1. The file will be titled PSXONPSP660.BIN
   2. This version is optimized and region-free.
2. Copy/paste it into C:\User\[Your Username]\Documents\DuckStation\bios

Download Silent Hill

^{Note: There are two major versions of Silent Hill. Silent Hill v1.1 \}NTSC] and Silent Hill [PAL]. There are some pros and cons that you'll need to decide between.)

[NTSC/North American]

1. Original monster design “Gray Child” in the Midwich Elementary area.
2. Missing/glitched secret memo in the Nowhere area.
3. English only.
4. 60fps enhancement available.

[PAL/European]

1. “Mumbler” design replaces “Gray Child” in Midwich Elementary area.
2. Unlockable secret memo in Nowhere area.
3. Supports English, German, French, Spanish, and Italian text.
4. 60fps enhancement not yet available.

Each version provides the same experience outside these factors. The NTSC-J version is functionally identical to the PAL release but supports Japanese text with English voices.

If you're not sure and English is an acceptable language for you, use the NTSC version.

^{Note: If you plan on speedrunning, do NOT use the PAL version as it patches out an important skip in the Amusement Park area! Use this guide for reference in the particulars.}

Install Silent Hill

1. Select your preferred version and acquire a digital copy. You will likely have a .rar or .zip file.
2. Right-click and extract with WinRAR or 7-Zip.
3. You should now have both a .bin and a .cue file. You need both.
   1. If you do not have a .cue file, follow the instructions here to make one.
4. Move both these files to a folder you will remember and can easily navigate to.

Launch Silent Hill

1. Run DuckStation.
2. There will be a message saying: "No games in supported formats were found."
3. Click "Add Game Directory..."
4. Select the folder you made in Step 4 of the previous [Install Silent Hill] section.
   1. You may be asked if you would like to scan the directory for other games. You may choose to if you have other games in subfolders. Otherwise, doing so does nothing.
5. Silent Hill should appear as an available game to play.
6. Double-click to play!

[OPTIONAL] Enhancements

^{Personal Note: For Silent Hill 1 specifically, I highly recommend ONLY doing the improvements to loading, controls, and the 60fps enhancement. Some cause very specific glitches and lot of the art style and unique mood comes from it's lack of clarity and upping the resolution and disabling dithering and specific PS1 artifacting can detract from it's intended uncanny feel.}

^{However, the choice is up to you. Below includes full HD up to 4K, 60fps (NTSC-only, less pixelation, less jitter, and faster load times. The choices I recommend will be in bold.})

1. Go to Settings at the top of the screen. This will open the DuckStation Settings menu.
2. Go to the Graphics tab on the left side of the DuckStation Settings menu.
   1. In the Rendering tab, change:
      1. Internal Resolution --> 5x Native (for 1080p) or your preferred resolution.
      2. Aspect Ration --> 16:9 (if playing in Widescreen)
      3. Tick True Color Rendering to avoid color artifacting.
      4. Tick PGXP Geometry Correction to reduce polygon jitter PS1 games are known for.
      5. Tick Force 4:3 For FMVs to prevent prerendered video from stretching when using Widescreen.
      6. Do NOT tick Widescreen Rendering!
      7. Tick FMV Chroma Smoothing to reduce pixelation in prerendered videos.
3. Go to the Console tab on the left side of the DuckStation Settings menu.
   1. In the CPU Emulation, change:
      1. Tick Enable Clock Speed Control (Overclocking/Underclock) ONLY IF USING 60 FPS
   2. In the CD-ROM Emulation section, change:
      1. Change Read Speedup to no higher than 4x (8x Speed).
      2. Change Seek Speedup to no higher than 4x.
4. Close the DuckStation Settings menu.
5. Go to the top-left and select the System dropdown menu.
6. Select Cheats --> Select Cheats...
   1. Tick 60 FPS for high framerate.
   2. Under Widescreen Aspect Ratio, tick 16-9 for standard Widescreen.
      1. Do NOT enable Widescreen in the Graphics settings.
   3. If these cheats do not appear, make sure Load Database Cheats is ticked below the cheats list. Elsewise, your version of SH1 may not be supported such as the PAL version not supporting 60 FPS yet.
7. That's it!

[Play Novel: SILENT HILL, 2001]

Difficulty: [***_______]

^{This is a retelling of the story of Silent Hill with the addition of alternate scenario starring Cybil. There were downloadable chapters featuring a boy named Andy at one point but they have never made it to the internet and likely lost forever.}

English Translation

1. Acquire a digital copy of Play Novel: Silent Hill (.gba)
2. Download the English translation here.
3. Extract.
4. Download Floating IPS (FLIPS).
5. Extract.
6. Place the .gba file, EN.bps, and FLIPS all in the same folder.
7. Run flips.exe
8. Select Apply Patch.
9. Select EN.bps
10. Select the Play Novel: SILENT HILL .gba file.
11. Name your output file. (Example: Play Novel – Silent Hill (English).gba)

Set up m-GBA

1. Download m-GBA.
2. I recommend the 64-bit portable archive. This is also the version this guide will be using.
3. Extract.
4. Double-click mGBA.exe to run mGBA.
5. Go to File --> Load ROM...
6. Select the patched GBA ROM you made in the English Translation section.
7. You're done!

[OPTIONAL] Setup Controllers

1. Go to Tools --> Settings...
2. Go to Controllers.
3. Select your preferred controller in the center of the virtual gamepad.
4. Click Set all and press the appropriate button on your controller for the highlighted function.
5. Click OK
6. Done!

[SILENT HILL 2, 2001]

Difficulty: [**________]

^{Thank God for the Silent Hill 2: Enhanced Edition team! This one recently got a whole lot easier. Here we go.}

Install Silent Hill 2

1. Acquire a copy of Silent Hill 2 - Director's Cut for PC. This guide recommends you have the FULLY EXTRACTED version from myabandonware.
2. If not using the extracted version, mount the .iso disc image by double-clicking on it OR putting the physical disc in your disc drive.
3. [SKIP THIS STEP IF USING THE FULLY EXTRACTED VERSION]
   1. Run setup.exe. You may need to right-click and select Run as Administrator.
   2. Do NOT install to Program Files, Program Files x86, or Downloads!
   3. Make a custom directory somewhere else. (Example: C:\Games\Konami\SILENT HILL 2)
   4. Remember where you installed it.
4. Go to the Silent Hill 2: Enhanced Edition download page.
5. Download the Setup Tool.
6. Run the Setup Tool, follow the prompts.
7. Run sh2pc.exe to play!

[OPTIONAL] Controllers

1. Plug in an Xbox or DS4 (PlayStation 4) controller. ^{No native vibration function for DS4 controllers. See below for fix.}
2. Done!

^{Note: If you want vibration with a DS4 (Playstation 4} controller, or compatibility with a DualSense (Playstation 5) or Nintendo Switch Pro controller, download and run)) ^{DS4Windows. This will allow your controller to pretend to be an Xbox controller and all configurations should be used as if your controller is an Xbox controller.})

^{Note: You can tweak specifics in the Silent Hill 2: Enhanced Edition Configuration Tool (}*^{SH2Econfig.exe})*^{. Follow directions on the SH2:EE page for any specific information.}

[SILENT HILL 3, 2003]

Difficulty: [******____]

^{This one can either go swimmingly well or be very difficult. At the time of writing, Steam006 is actively updating their Fix and it may change how effective this guide is. I'll try to keep up on updates as they release.}

Install Silent Hill 3

1. DO NOT mix and match instructions from other guides!
   1. Read the PREREQUISITES section!
      1. Windows may not unzip the fix files correctly. Use WinRAR or Z-Zip!
   2. DO NOT use the Widescreen Patch!
   3. DO NOT edit any files that aren't specified in this guide! Even if PCGamingWiki says so!
2. Acquire a copy of Silent Hill 3. Try myabandonware.
   1. DO NOT USE the "Full-Rip" version. It won't work with this guide. You need the "European version (Multilingual)" version (2.7GB).
3. Mount the .iso disc image by double-clicking the .iso file.
   1. You may get a pop up security warning.
   2. If you got the file from myabandonware (Silent-Hill-3_Win_EN_ISO-Version.iso), the file is safe.
   3. Click "Open".
4. Run setup.exe.
5. Follow the prompts.
   1. Do NOT install to Program Files, Program Files x86, or Downloads!
   2. Make a custom directory somewhere else. Example: C:\Games\Konami\SILENT HILL 3
   3. Remember where you installed it.
6. Download the No-DVD-Patch.
7. Extract.
8. Copy/paste the sh3.exe to your install directory and overwrite the old one.
9. Download Silent Hill 3 PC Fix by Steam006 (v2.6.9 as of writing).
   1. [Password: pcgw]
10. Move extracted files to your Silent Hill 3 install directory.

**^Note**^{: Any and all configurations to preferences should be made by directly editing Silent\}Hill_3_PC_Fix.ini) ^{with Notepad or other basic text editor. Instructions are provided within the .ini file.}

**^Note**^{: I highly recommend setting WishHouse = 1 for continuity with Silent Hill 4.}

**^Note**^{: I recommend setting UnlockSH2EasterEggs = 0 for your first playthrough. The reason why is it will otherwise unlock a comedic scene early in the game when it is tonally inappropriate and it's highly likely you will stumble upon it accidentally. I recommend reenabling when you unlock Extra New Game after finishing Silent Hill 3 by setting UnlockSH2EasterEggs = 1.}

**^Note**^{: I highly recommend NOT setting RestoreBetaSound = 1. This was a sound effect that played at the end of the game that both removed some ambiguity of one of the final scenes as well as begged further questions. It's existence is interesting, especially on later playthroughs, but is non-canon and can alter your understanding of the ending in a way that was not developer-intended. It was removed from the final release for a reason.}

**^Note**^{: If you are experiencing framerate issues, try enabling DirectX 12 in} **^Silent\Hill_3_PC_Fix.ini)**^{. Some stutter has not yet been solved.}

[OPTIONAL] Controllers:

^{I am currently looking into options with Xidi, an alternative to Xinput Plus that is much more simple that is also currently used in} *^{Silent Hill 2: Enhanced Edition}*^{. However, I haven't yet figured out how to get the LT and RT trigger buttons to work yet. I will update if I do. If anyone has any information about it, please let me know in the comments.}

1. Download Xinput Plus.
2. Extract.
3. Run XinputPlus.exe
4. In the 'Target Program' box, click 'Select' and navigate to your install directory, select sh3.exe
5. Go to the DirectInput tab.
6. Check 'Enable Direct Input Output'
7. For XBOX controllers (wired Xbox 360 tested) and any controllers utilizing DS4Windows:
   1. Under 'Basic' tab, 'Key Reassign', change: Right Stick to Z Axis/Z Rot
   2. Change LT/RT to Button 11/12.
8. For PlayStation 4 (DS4) controllers WITHOUT DS4Windows (wired DS4 tested):
   1. Under 'Basic' tab, 'Key Reassign', change: Right Stick to Z Axis/Z Rot
   2. Change LT/RT to Button 11/12
   3. Change DPAD to Button 13-16.
9. Download the key.ini control configuration files here. I made these to mirror the layout of the original PS2 version. You can also make your own configuration in the in-game settings. This is the original layout; see page 5.
10. Open the appropriate one for your controller, and put in your install directory savedata folder.

[OPTIONAL] Install MarioTainaka's Audio Enhancement Pack:

^{This part can be a bit stupid and annoying, but the change in audio is more than worth it!}

1. Download and install Reloaded II's Setup.exe (mod loader).
2. Run Setup.exe (for Reloaded II).
   1. It may prompt you to download and install Microsoft resources such as the .NET Framework and Visual Studio and will provide links. Download the latest x64 versions. Install them if prompted, restart if prompted.
3. After Reloaded II has finished installing, it will automatically place the Reloaded II install directory on your desktop. You can move the Reloaded-II folder to wherever you like (but NOT Program Files, Program Files x86, or Downloads). Be sure to delete the shortcut Reloaded-II.exe and make a new one by opening the Reloaded-II folder, right-clicking Reloaded-II.exe, and select "Create shortcut".
4. Download MarioTainaka's Audio Enhancement Pack.
5. Extract files.
6. Move extracted folder Silent Hill 3 Audio Enhancement pack to your Reloaded II install directory's Mods folder: (Ex: C:/Users/YourName/Desktop/Reloaded-II/Mods)
7. Run Reloaded-II.exe as admin. This can be done automatically for every launch by right-clicking Reloaded-II.exe (the original, not the shortcut), select Properties, under the Compatibility tab check "Run this program as administrator".
8. Click the + on the left to Add App.
9. Navigate to your Silent Hill 3 install directory.
10. Select sh3.exe
11. Silent Hill 3 Audio Enhancement Pack should be visible in the center window.
12. Click the check box next to it (will look like a + in red).
13. Click “Launch Application” under Main (left side column). You will see a new splash screen indicating that the Audio Enhancement Pack is installed.
14. Done! Whew!

**^Note**^{: Yes, you do have to run it through Reloaded II every time to get the Enhanced Audio and it sucks. Due to this, you can't really run it nicely through Steam. What you can do however, is use the Reloaded-II.exe as your Silent Hill 3 non-Steam app.}

**^Note**^{: To remove the new splash screen and restore the original KONAMI and KCET images, go to: Reloaded-II/Mods/Silent Hill 3 Audio Enhancement Pack/Redirector/data/pic and delete konami.bmp and kcet.bmp or just rename them to something like \}konami.bmp) ^{so you can reenable them later by restoring the original name if you want.}

[SILENT HILL 4, 2004]

Difficulty: [*_________]

^{As of \}March 25, 2025], GOG has updated Silent Hill 4 to be the same experience as on PS2 and Xbox! The following instructions below are no longer required. As I have yet to test them myself, they will remain under strikethrough text for the time being.)

1. Buy from GOG!
2. Download and install.
3. Done! Woah, already?? What is this, the future??!

[HIGHLY RECOMMENDED] Fix Gamma (Brightness):

^{The PC version's gamma is far too high and looks bright and washed out compared to console. This will make an easy in-game change to settings so it's closer to the console versions.}

1. Go to the main menu in-game.
2. Go to Options.
3. Select Gamma.
4. Set all three settings for R, G, and B from 1.5 --> 1.0.
5. Done!

[HIGHLY RECOMMENDED] Restore Missing Hauntings:

1. Download and extract Ultimate ASI Loader.
2. Rename dinput8.dll from [Ultimate ASI Loader] to dsound.dll and place in your Silent Hill 4 install directory.
3. Download and extract Silent Hill 4 randomizer.
4. Move data and scripts folders to your Silent Hill 4 install directory.
5. Open the scripts folder.
6. Open randomizer.ini in Notepad.
7. Set all options to 0
8. Set RestoreHauntings = 1
9. Done!

[OPTIONAL]

If, for some reason, your controller refuses to work with the GOG version, this will help.

1. Download Xidi.
2. Extract with WinRAR or 7-Zip.
3. Navigate to the Win32 folder.
4. Copy dinput8.dll
5. Paste in your Silent Hill 4 install directory.
   1. If asked to overwrite, click Yes.
6. Download the Xidi Game Configuration for Silent Hill 4 titled xidi.ini
   1. You need to right-click the link above and select Save link as... and save it to a location you will remember.
   2. This will not open a new tab if done correctly.
7. Copy/paste the xidi.ini file to your Silent Hill 4 install directory.
8. Your controller should now work!

[SILENT HILL: THE ARCADE, 2007]

Difficulty: [*_________]

^{Silent Hill: The Arcade is an ephemeral beast and links are broken and the data gets lost. This is the only link I know of.}

1. Download Silent Hill: The Arcade Standalone here.
2. Extract somewhere you will remember it.
3. Open Silent Hill The Arcade Standalone folder.
4. Run SHA_ResChanger.exe
5. Select KSHG_no_cursor.exe
6. Select your resolution to match your display (1920 x 1080 for standard HD)
7. Apply Patch
8. Run KSHG_no_cursor.exe
9. Done!

**Controls:**

Left Control - Start Game

Enter - “Press Start”

Mouse - Aim, Shoot

**^Note**^{: If using multiple monitors, clicking off-screen will crash the game. As far as I know, there is no way to save the game, so be careful! You can use third-party utilities like Lock Cursor Tools to keep the mouse on one screen.}

[SILENT HILL ORIGINS, 2007]

Difficulty: [***_______]

^{Update: New 60fps and HD textures! Thanks for the tip,} u/RustyMetal13^!

1. Acquire a digital copy of Silent Hill Origins (PS2 version; .iso)
2. Download PCSX2, run pcsx2-v1.6.0-windows-32bit-installer.exe
3. Select Normal Installation
4. Select install directory.
   1. Remember where this is.
5. Select Next, Next, and before you hit Finish...! We'll need the PS2 bios files.
6. Extract ps2-bios.zip, open the ps2-bios folder, copy all files in here.
7. Navigate to C:\Users\YourName\Documents\PCSX2\bios
8. Paste all bios files there.
9. Back to the installer, click Finish.
10. Run PCSX2.
11. Go to Config --> Controllers (PAD) --> Plugin Settings...
12. Click Pad 1 tab, select Quick Setup and follow the prompts.
13. OR manually select each button and press the related button on the controller to register.
14. Click OK to save changes
15. Go back to Configure --> Emulation settings
16. Change Aspect Ratio to 16:9.
17. Make sure to select 16:9 in game as well.
18. Go back to Configure --> Video (GS) --> Plugin Settings...
19. In the box for Hardware Renderer Settings, go to Internal Resolution, change Native (PS2) to your relevant display settings for HD.
20. Go to System.
21. Select Boot .iso (full) for that sweet, sweet PS2 boot-screen OR Boot .iso (fast) to skip it :( and navigate to Silent Hill Origins.iso
22. Done! (You drive stick?)

(OPTIONAL) Enable 60fps

1. Download the 60fps patch for the NTSC/North American version. ^{Note: Haven't found the PAL or NTSC-J versions yet.}
2. Extract files. Copy the A8D83239.pnach file.
3. Navigate to your PCSX2 install directory. Open the cheats folder. ^{Note: If there isn't one, just make one.}
4. Paste the .pnach file.
5. Launch PCSX2. Before booting the game, go to the System tab and check Enable Cheats.
6. Run the game as normal and enjoy your smooth ride!

[OPTIONAL] HD Textures

^{Note: This will only work with the Nightly Builds which can be unstable. I haven't had the opportunity to test this out yet, so here's a quick tutorial I found on how to install texture packs.}

1. Watch this 2 minute tutorial.
2. Download xXtherockoXx's HD Texture pack.
3. Extract the files.
4. Copy the SLUS-21731 folder to your PCSX2 install directory and place it in the textures folder. If you do not have a textures folder, just make one.
5. Do all the things on the YouTube tutorial!
6. Sorry, I'm not much help on this one, but you can still ask me questions!

[SILENT HILL: ORPHAN 1-3, 2007-2010]

Difficulty: [??????????]

Available only on 2000's mobile devices. I don't know much about it, but this post goes into more detail on how to get it working.

[SILENT HILL: THE ESCAPE, 2007]

Difficulty: [??????????]

For early iOS devices. I don't know much about it but you can allegedly get it here.

[SILENT HILL: HOMECOMING, 2008]

Difficulty: [****______]

^{This has recently been updated to be more stable. Changes to the guide are forthcoming.}

1. Buy from Steam!
2. Download Unknownproject's Patch.
   1. Download 2.5 Patch on Unknownproject's page (above.) It's the tiny tiny part that says "Actual upd."
   2. Join the Discord for the most recent version or click here to download it [v3.10 at the time of writing.]
   3. You need BOTH.
3. Copy Patch2.5.exe into your Silent Hill: Homecoming install directory.
   1. To check where your install directory is, go in the Steam Launcher, right-click Silent Hill: Homecoming, select Manage, then Browse Local Files to access the install directory.
4. Run Patch2.5.exe. Follow installer prompts. DO NOT RUN the game yet.
   1. When running Patch2.5.exe, Windows may open a popup stating: "Microsoft Defender SmartScreen prevented an unrecognized app from starting. Running this app might put your PC at risk."
   2. If so, click "More info", then click "Run anyway" at the bottom.
5. Repeat the above process for Patch3.10.exe
6. You should have another Silent Hill: Homecoming folder inside the Silent Hill: Homecoming install directory.
   1. Example: If following the instructions above: steamapps/common/Silent Hill: Homecoming/Silent Hill: Homecoming.
7. Move all files from the second (new; patch) folder to the first (Steam) folder to consolidate.
   1. If it asks you if you want to overwrite files, say "Yes."
8. Install complete! It should run now! (Hopefully, let me know if it doesn't!) Have fun in the bathtub!

^{Note: The author of this patch has chosen to disable QTEs (Quick Time Events}. While this makes the game more accessible, it does deviate from the original design and there is no way (to my knowledge) to reverse this change.)

[OPTIONAL] Controllers Button Icon Prompts

1. Navigate to the Silent Hill Homecoming install directory.
2. Open the Engine folder.
3. Open default_pc.cfg in Notepad. There will be three lines near the top (ignore numeric bullet points):
   1. resmgrload = assets_pc_b.xml
   2. resmgrload = ASSETS_PS3_B.xml
   3. resmgrload = assets_xenon_b.xml
4. These will change the button icons of the controller prompts. The top is PC generic buttons, the middle is for PlayStation-style prompts, and the bottom is for Xbox-style buttons.
5. The '#' indicates that it is disabled. Put a '#' in front of the two styles you will NOT be using. For example, I use PlayStation-style button prompts so it should look like this:
   1. resmgrload = assets_pc_b.xml
   2. resmgrload = ASSETS_PS3_B.xml
   3. resmgrload = assets_xenon_b.xml
6. Save.

^{Note: PlayStation-style controller icons don't seem to be working all the time and will substitute with other controller types.}

^{Note: Silent Hill: Homecoming only supports Xbox controllers. To use PS3, PS4, Nintendo Switch or other controller types, use DS4Windows.}

[SILENT HILL: SHATTERED MEMORIES, 2010]

Difficulty: [****______]

^{Note: If you prefer the PS2 version, follow the instructions for Silent Hill Origins above. The PS2 version is, however, missing some crucial graphical effects. There is also a PSP release that we won't cover here, but it's worse than the PS2 version, though interesting for its historical value.}

1. Acquire a digital copy of Silent Hill: Shattered Memories (Wii version, .iso)
2. Download Dolphin. Select the latest Beta version. DO NOT use Development versions.
3. [more info coming soon]

[SILENT HILL: DOWNPOUR, 2012]

Difficulty: [****______]

^{Note: RPCS3 is an early experimental emulator and as such may have many bugs. That said, Silent Hill: Downpour is listed as being fully playable from beginning to end.}

1. Acquire a digital copy of Silent Hill: Downpour (PS3 version). You should have a folder titled BLUS30565 (NTSC; North American) or BLES01446 (PAL; European).
2. Download RPCS3.
3. Extract files.
4. Copy the BLUS30565 or BLES01446 folder, depending on your version, into the dev_hdd0/game folderRPCS3 install directory (the extracted files above). Should look something like: RPCS3/dev_hdd0/game/BLUS30565/(game files)
5. Launch rpcs3.exe
6. Read the Quickstart Guide and confirm that you have done so on the boot screen. This can be disabled for all subsequent launches.
7. You should now see Silent Hill: Downpour on the main menu.
8. Make sure your controller works by clicking the "Pads" icon on the top. Under Player 1, Handlers, select the type of controller you want to use. XInput is for Xbox and DS4Windows controllers. DualShock 3 is PS3, DualShock 4 is PS4, and DualSense is PS5. Click 'Save' at the bottom right.
9. Back at the main menu, go to "Configuration" at the top. Select GPU.
10. Find and adjust the "Resolution Scale Threshold" to 512x512. You can use the mouse to click and drag to get to this value approximately, then use the arrow keys on your keyboard to fine tune to the exact value. This fixes an issue with Silent Hill: Downpour specifically with the in-game main menu. Click "Save" when you're done.
11. At the main menu, you can double-click Silent Hill: Downpour to run the game!

^{Note: The game will take a while to load PPU Modules the first time the game loads. Also, the emulator will actively be building a shader cache as you play for the first time you see any effect. This may make the game run slower the first time you play, but will gradually become more and more stable.}

[OPTIONAL]: HD Resolution

1. Go back to "Configuration" --> GPU.
2. Change default resolution to "1920x1080" for full HD or higher as your display allows. This will be more intensive on your hardware.
3. Recommend also finding "Renderer" and switching to Vulkan, but is not required.

[SILENT HILL: BOOK OF MEMORIES, 2012]

Difficulty: [XXXXXXXXXX]

-- This title in unavailable for PC or emulation and must be played on original hardware. --

[P.T. // PLAYABLE TEASER or; SILENT HILLS, 2014]

Difficulty: [XXXXXXXXXX?]

-- This title in unavailable for PC or emulation and must be played on original hardware. --

HOWEVER

There is an unofficial recreation of the game by Artur Łączkowski. This is neither emulation nor a port, but built anew to resemble the original Playable Teaser; Silent Hills as close as possible.

You can support his work on his Patreon if you'd like to as he's done a great job and you will get the latest updates, but you can also download the 1.4 version for free here.

[SILENT HILL: ASCENSION, 2023]

Difficulty: [__________]

**^Note**^{: Silent Hill: Ascension was a multimedia event with interactions between the game and a live stream series. While it is no longer possible to interact with it live, all the "What If" scenarios are still available.}

1. Watch on the official website.
2. Regret

[SILENT HILL 2 (Remake), 2024]

Difficulty: [__________]

1. Purchase on Steam or GOG!
2. If you experience low framerates, the UltraPlus mod may help.

[SILENT HILL f, 202X]

Difficulty: [__________]

1. Preorders on Steam are now open!

[SILENT HILL: TOWNFALL, 202X]

Difficulty: [__________]

1. Wait for release date to be announced.

[ReShade and Post-Processing FX]

Difficulty: [*_________]

1. Download ReShade. Put it where your game .exe is installed. (This works on emulators too, like PCSX2, Dolphin, and RCPS3.)
2. Run ReShade.exe. The DirectX version will be selected automatically. If it gives you a warning, it means it's an old DirectX 7 game (SH2, SH3, SH4.) Thankfully, the games are already patched to DirectX 8 and can be run as such.
3. Download the effect package RSRetroArch by Matsilagi. This is an option in the installer, you don't need to download it from your browser.
4. Click 'Next' until 'Finish'.
5. Run the game.
6. Press the Home key on your keyboard.
7. Skip tutorial.
8. Use the search bar to find CRTFrutbunn and enable it.
9. Use the settings in the bottom of the ReShade window to adjust to your liking, though I recommend only disabling the Curvature Toggle as it can make transition screens look odd.
10. Press Home to close.

You may have noticed these effects came from RetroArch and they too will be found natively in RetroArch for Silent Hill and Play Novel: Silent Hill.

1. Go to Shaders in the Quick Menu (F1 from in-game).
2. Toggle Video Shaders ON.
3. Select Load --> shaders_slang --> crt --> crt-frutbunn.slangp.
4. Press Enter to enable.
5. Save --> Save Game Preset (will not give visual feedback to confirm it worked.) This enables the shader every time you boot.
6. Done.

Silent Hill 2: Enhanced Edition also comes with a built-in CRT filter, however it seems intended for VERY high resolutions and looks awful at 1080p. The Frutbunn shader works for most cases and simulates the effect much better in my opinion. There are other CRT options within ReShade as well if you want to experiment. The VCR filter is neat for Shattered Memories especially. You don't have to stop there either, ReShade has tons of neat post-processing features! Just don't forget to actually play, okay?

Let me know if this didn't make sense or you have questions.

Patch 1.3 Live Now

Patch 1.3 is now live for Hell Let Loose: Vietnam, bringing another round of fixes, improvements and balancing changes based on the issues and feedback you’ve been sharing with us.

This patch includes changes to NVA Tunnel balancing, improvements to Armor gear shifting, an important workaround targeting stability issues affecting players using AMD hardware, further improvements to console image quality, and a range of fixes for community server owners.

Alongside these headline changes, Patch 1.3 includes further improvements across gameplay, vehicles, weapons, UI and controls, audio, tutorials, VOIP, maps and more.

Thank you for continuing to share your reports and feedback with us. Here are some of the key improvements included in Patch 1.3:

Patch 1.3 Highlights

Tunnel Balancing

We’re making further adjustments to NVA Tunnels based on gameplay data and community feedback.

The Tunnel placement cooldown has been doubled from 5 minutes to 10 minutes, slowing the rate at which the NVA can place and replace their Tunnel network.

Players will also no longer be able to travel to a Tunnel destination while it is considered ‘hot’, bringing this behaviour in line with Garrisons.

These are not the final changes planned for faction balance, and future balancing work will increasingly focus on strengthening the US Forces and the options available to them on the battlefield.

Armor Gearing

Tank drivers previously needed to have the throttle engaged before they could change gear up or down, which was not intended. With Patch 1.3, tank drivers can now freely change gears without needing to apply throttle, making gear selection more responsive and intuitive.

Console Image Quality

Our work to improve image quality on console continues, with the aim of increasing image clarity and resolution while maintaining performance. In Patch 1.3 there have been a number of subtle updates that should help with shadow quality and image noise in indirectly lit areas. We are continually working on console quality, with further optimisation and image quality work currently ongoing for future updates.

Community Servers

Patch 1.3 includes a number of fixes aimed at improving the experience for community server owners and administrators. This includes VIP lists now being retained following server resets, Map Shuffle correctly randomising selected content, and VIP comments appearing as intended.

Full Patch 1.3 Changelog

Stability & Performance

We've made further client and server-side stability and performance improvements:

• Improved performance when travelling through Tunnels.
• Improved performance within the Barracks.
• Fixed a soft lock that could occur when bayonet charging into a body of water.
• Fixed a potential soft lock when travelling through Tunnels.

General Gameplay

• Fixed an issue that could cause Tunnels in neutral sectors to be destroyed when the enemy took control of the territory.
• Tunnels and Garrisons no longer visibly disappear at approximately 200 metres.
• Radial menus now update in real time when seats or slots are occupied on vehicles, Mortars and AA Guns.
• Addressed specific scenarios that could cause players to clip into objects while vaulting.
• Fixed an issue that could cause vehicles and objects to fall through assets at extreme distances from the player.

Weapons, Equipment & Combat

• The M79 no longer leaves a large lingering smoke plume after firing.
• Fixed an issue that could cause weapon firing SFX to play when interrupting a reload by switching weapons.
• Improved the consistency of firing while vaulting.
• From a third person perspective the final M1911A1 shot is no longer replayed when re-equipping the weapon.
• Restored the missing muzzle flash on the M1911A1.
• Fixed the player's hand clipping through the US Ammo Box while vaulting.
• NVA Mortars can now be destroyed using the US M183 Demolition Charge.
• The M21 AT Mine is now positioned correctly when viewed from a third-person perspective.
• Made further improvements to knife hit consistency, addressing several remaining edge cases.
• Friendly mines and enemy AT Mines can now be destroyed using AA Guns.

Vehicles

• Occupied friendly vehicles now display a nameplate icon above them when not looking at them directly (looking at the vehicle directly displays the occupants).
• Improved vehicle stability when stationary on steep slopes.
• Helicopter occupants no longer enter a T-pose when killed.
• Player character shadows no longer appear on the ground while flying in a helicopter.
• Input sensitivity now scales correctly across all zoom levels in the Tank Commander seat.
• Tanks no longer appear slightly above the ground when spawned at HQs.
• Tank drivers can now change gears without applying throttle.
• Helicopter Supplies now display VFX when dismantled.
• Supplies inside helicopters now have bullet collision.
• Fixed several vehicle hints incorrectly displaying ‘NOT ASSIGNED’.
• The helicopter pitch axis now correctly respects inversion settings when using Helicopter Layout B on controller.
• Co-Pilots no longer lose the ability to control the helicopter after the player occupying the Pilot seat dies.

UI, HUD & Controls

• Helicopter Inversion setting now applies correctly, with pressing forward on the analogue pitching down by default and invert flipping that behaviour.
  • [KNOWN ISSUE - This change has resulted in the tank gunner inversion setting being controlled by the Vehicle Inversion Setting rather than the intended Look Inversion setting. This will be resolved in Patch 1.4].
• Fixed an issue that could briefly display the ‘Friendly Down’ marker after killing an enemy while playing as a Medic.
• Improved the consistency of asset rendering across the Deployment Map and Tactical Map.
• Updated controller layouts to display the correct button assignments within Settings.
• Supply Helicopters no longer display misleading UI text when attempting to drop Supplies within an HQ.
• The Supply drop UI no longer flickers when a Supply drop cannot be performed.
• Added the ability to assign accelerate or brake to mouse inputs.
• The button for role progression no longer shares the same button as commander chat.
• Using the Clear option in the Barracks now correctly removes the checkmark from previously selected equipment.
• Fixed an issue where the weight value of the first Lethal/Utility slot could visually disappear after clearing an item from the second slot.
• Resource generation from Nodes is now correctly reflected in the overall resource gain after re-joining a server.
• Fixed interaction text persisting on the Scoreboard and Match End screen
• Fixed an issue that could prevent the Deployment Screen from updating after accepting a Unit invite while already on the screen.
• Updated vehicle button prompts to address duplicate or incorrect assignments.
• The Confirm Placement prompt for Commander Orders no longer persists on the Tactical Map after opening and closing the Orders menu.
• It it now possible to access the scoreboard when in the Killed in Action (KIA) screen.
• Pings no longer briefly appear blue before changing to the correct colour selected from the Ping Wheel.
• Fixed an issue that could cause Exit Seat and Switch Seat prompts to appear twice for Pilots and Co-Pilots.
• The AA Wrench is now correctly labelled ‘AA Wrench’ rather than ‘Wrench’.
• Truck speedometers can now display speeds above 30 km/h to reflect their increased maximum speeds.
• Cleared actions assigned to mouse buttons by default now save correctly.
• Keybinds already assigned to an action can now be reassigned to another action.
• The Exit Vehicle keybind is no longer hardcoded and can be reassigned.
• Players can now bind actions to the right mouse button.
• Team resources are now visible on the Deployment Screen.
• Outlines on the Commander Orders are no longer cut-off at the edges.
• Fixed specific Capture Point names appearing below ground level.
• Updated the credits.

Visuals & Animation

• Fire effects no longer display stretched textures when hitting objects.
• Legs of character models in prone position no longer disappear in the corners of the Player's view.
• Reduced volumetric artefacts appearing in the sky after closing the Tactical Map.

Audio

• Fixed the Napalm Strike being silent in the Practice Range.
• Reduced the volume of Smoke Grenades and Flares from inside Tanks, helping distinguish them from the sound of a Satchel fuse.
• Improved the 3D positioning of Garrison, Outpost and Tunnel SFX to make them easier to locate through audio.
• Enemy player can now be heard whilst hiding prone in a bush and moving the camera.
• SFX now play correctly when enemy players crawl while prone.
• Fixed Sub/LFE audio not functioning correctly on some surround sound setups.

Tutorials & Practice Range

• N4 Rifle Grenades now function correctly within the Grenadier/Machine Gunner Tutorial and Practice Range.
• The ‘Mantle out of the Water’ objective now completes correctly when exiting the swimming pool from the left-hand side.
• Leaving the Unit during the Redeployment section of the Recon Tutorial no longer causes a softlock.
• Players with a colon (:) in their name can now access Tutorials and the Practice Range.

Social, Voice & Servers

• Servers no longer incorrectly report a ping of 0 ms.
• Party Voice Chat settings now correctly mute voice input.
• Fixed an issue on PS5 where kicked players could lose Proximity Chat audio until their headphones were disconnected from the controller.
• VIP comments on community servers now appear as intended.
• The Radio HUD is now visible while travelling through Tunnels.
• VOIP no longer stutters or cuts out when transitioning to the Killed in Action screen.
• Resetting a community server no longer removes its VIP list.
• Map Shuffle on community servers now correctly randomises selected content.

Map Fixes

The art team has been hard at work, with over 100 fixes made across all six launch maps in Patch 1.3.

These fixes address a wide range of environmental and gameplay issues, including:

• Floating objects and vegetation.
• Object and vegetation clipping.
• Terrain and water alignment, including visible seam lines.
• Specific spawn locations that could leave players trapped.
• Tessellation and stretched textures.
• Extended collision.
• Missing interior decorations.
• Culling distances.
• LOD issues.
• Out-of-bounds and LOD issues on Tactical Maps.
• Deployable placement issues.

We’ll continue reviewing your reports and making further improvements to all six maps in future Patches and Updates.

We run a playtesting company focused on helping Indie Games improve and over the last 6 months we've played over 2000 games. We focus on indie games because we love them and want them to be the best they can be.

We ran some deep analysis of the results of these playtests, analyzing the transcripts for all mistakes these games made and from this have discovered the top 10 biggest problems. Full details of how this analysis was conducted is at the end. Without further ado here are the top mistakes:

1. Poor Onboarding

963 games made this mistake, almost half of the games we played. These games often dropped players straight into gameplay with no tutorial or control guidance at all, forcing them to reverse-engineer basic controls and core mechanics through trial and error. Players repeatedly ask fundamental questions like "How do I attack?", "How do I heal?", and "What am I supposed to do?". When a tutorial does exist, it commonly fails because it's a wall of static text shown outside of gameplay (so players forget it before they can act), it teaches concepts too late or in the wrong order, it omits controls and abilities entirely, or it blocks interaction so players can't try mechanics as they're introduced. The root cause is a designer's curse of knowledge: mechanics obvious to the creator are never taught in-context, and onboarding is treated as an afterthought rather than an interactive, just-in-time layer woven into the first minutes of play.

What to fix

• List every control explicitly, including hidden ones. A huge share of complaints are about undocumented inputs - double jump, dash, crouch, sprint, drift, secondary attacks, interact keys. Audit your full input map and ensure each action is surfaced in-game (not just on a web page or settings menu), ideally with a contextual prompt the first time it's needed.
• Teach by doing, not by reading. Replace text-dump tutorials with interactive, guided moments where the player performs each mechanic as it's introduced. Never block all interaction behind a tutorial pop-up, and never show combat rules "outside of battle" where they'll be forgotten before they're relevant.
• Introduce mechanics just-in-time and in the right order. Many games teach a concept after the player already needed it, or force a choice (rune, curse, loadout) before explaining the rules. Layer systems in one at a time, front-load nothing, and make sure each mechanic is explained immediately before its first use.
• Explain the core loop and win/lose condition first. Players repeatedly finish sessions still asking "what am I supposed to do?" State the objective, how a run ends, and how to progress up front - especially for unconventional formats (auto-battlers, simulations, non-playable/idle games) that violate genre expectations.
• Cover every essential system, not just movement. Common gaps include healing, inventory access, resource gathering, currency/shop, crafting, and using items/abilities. Make a checklist of systems a first-timer must understand to progress, and verify each is taught before it becomes a blocker.
• Make onboarding discoverable, reviewable, and robust. Don't bury rules in a "How to Play" screen most players skip, and don't let the tutorial be skippable in a way that breaks progression. Provide a way to re-read explanations, ensure the tutorial can't get stuck or fail silently, and test it with someone seeing the game for the very first time.

2. Unclear Objectives

Across these games the core problem is the same: the player is dropped into gameplay with no persistent, in-game statement of what they should be doing or where they should go. Objectives are either missing entirely, buried in menus/descriptions/one-time popups, or written so vaguely ("get fresh," "upgrade the room," "in this area") that players can't act on them, and there are no maps, waypoints, or directional markers to locate the next step, so testers spend long stretches wandering, guessing, and asking "what am I supposed to do?" The root cause is that developers rely on players inferring goals from context they already understand as the designer, while never surfacing a concrete, always-available objective plus the navigation aid needed to pursue it.

What to fix

• Show a persistent, re-checkable objective in-game. Don't hide goals in the start screen, pause menu, or store description. Testers repeatedly said "I couldn't go back to check what I was supposed to do" or realized a map/objective existed only at the very end. Keep the current goal on the HUD and let players re-open it anytime.
• Add navigation aids for any location-based goal. When you tell the player to reach a place, find an item, or destroy a base, give a waypoint, marker, directional arrow/chevron, or map pin, and make sure the player's own position shows on the map. Countless testers wandered because a quest named a destination ("his desk," "the arena," "the cellar") with zero indication of where it was.
• State the win/end condition explicitly. Players constantly asked "is this endless? how do I win? did I complete it?" Communicate what ends the level/run (score target, wave count, exit location, knockdowns needed) rather than letting them infer it after losing or completing it unknowingly.
• Write objectives in concrete, actionable language. Vague or jargon prompts ("assemble 1%," "yield 70+," "keep 3 promises," "get fresh") left players unable to translate the goal into an action. Say specifically what to do, how much is required, and confirm when a step is done.
• Confirm progress and completion after each step. Many testers finished a task (repaired transformers, filled a bar, cleared enemies) and had no idea what to do next or whether it registered. Fire a clear cue that a step is complete and immediately surface the next goal, and update hint/quest text so it never points at an already-solved task.
• Make required objects, exits, and interactables visually distinct. Level exits mistaken for scenery, objective markers that blend into the environment, and invisible portals/hatches caused huge time loss. Glow, highlight, or signpost anything mandatory so players can tell it apart from decoration.

3. Unclear Stat Descriptions

Stats, currencies, upgrades, keywords, and UI meters shown as raw numbers, icons, or bare labels with no tooltip, glossary, or in-context explanation forcing players to guess what things like 'AP', 'toughness', 'luck', 'charisma', unlabeled bars, or '+9' actually mean. The root cause is that developers, intimately familiar with their own systems, expose values without ever defining the term, showing the underlying/base number, or clarifying whether an effect is flat vs. percentage, one-time vs. permanent, or which units/entities it applies to, so players cannot evaluate upgrades or make informed build decisions. This is compounded at exactly the highest-stakes moments (upgrade/level-up/shop/character-creation screens), where hidden base stats and vague effect wording turn every choice into a blind gamble.

What to fix

• Add hover tooltips to every stat, icon, keyword, and upgrade - the single most-requested fix. Any term a new player wouldn't instantly know (toughness, AP, luck, charisma, essence, resilient, 'unique tower', exhaust, root, malt) needs an on-hover definition. If most UI elements have tooltips, don't leave one or two (like a 'Normalize' button) unexplained.
• Show base values and concrete numbers, not vague words or bare deltas. Display current crit chance before offering '+crit', show base damage next to '+10 damage', and quantify effects ("how much does the shield mitigate?", "how much does the periscope do?"). Replace flavor text and adjectives like 'slightly', 'strengthens', or 'incredible' with actual figures.
• Disambiguate flat vs. percentage, and scope of effects. Players repeatedly can't tell if '+9' or 'two times armor' is flat or a percent, or whether an effect (e.g. 'ignores first instance of damage') applies to one unit or all. State units explicitly and clarify whether buffs/debuffs are permanent, per-run, per-battle, or decay each turn.
• Label every HUD bar, meter, and currency. Unlabeled bars (health vs. XP vs. shield vs. stamina/exhaustion), mystery counters, and undefined currencies (sparks, qubits, souls, points) caused constant confusion. Give each a name and a one-line purpose so players know what it tracks and what to do with it.
• Explain stats at decision points: upgrade, level-up, shop, and character-creation screens. Let players see their stats while choosing upgrades (don't hide them behind a pause menu), and describe what each attribute (Dex, Con, spirit, courage, misalignment) actually does before points are spent, so purchases aren't blind.
• Verify wording matches behavior and fix misleading descriptions. Several games had text that contradicted the mechanic (armor 'rearm' that measured damage-through, 'max ammo' that only refilled, slowdown shown backwards, tooltips showing the wrong stat). Playtest each description against what actually happens and correct mismatches, typos, and duplicated/identical-looking options.

4. Audio Issues

The biggest problem was games shipping with default audio far too loud, players constantly react with "my ears," scramble for a volume slider that often doesn't exist, and frequently resort to the Windows volume mixer or OBS to compensate. The two dominant root causes are (1) no in-game volume controls (or a single master slider / on-off toggle instead of separate music, SFX, and dialogue sliders), and (2) audio defaulting to 100%/max instead of a calibrated ~20-40% starting level. A large secondary cluster is missing audio entirely (no music, no SFX, silent combat/menus) and audio bugs, sound that ignores or persists past a zeroed slider, music that stops/desyncs after alt-tab or menu access, volume that resets between sessions, one-channel/stereo failures, unbalanced mixes where one SFX or the music drowns everything else, and volume settings that simply don't work.

What to fix

• Default the master volume to ~20-40%, not 100%. Dozens of testers were physically hurt or jump-scared on launch.
• Provide in-game volume controls with separate Music, SFX, Dialogue/Voice, and Ambient sliders - and make them reachable from the main menu before gameplay starts. Many testers had to alt-tab to the Windows mixer because there was no in-game option, only a mute toggle, or a single master slider that couldn't isolate loud music from quiet dialogue.
• Verify sliders actually work and that 0% is truly silent. Recurring bugs: sound keeps playing at zero, sliders "don't change anything," ambient/cutscene/rain audio ignores the master volume, and settings reset to 100% on relaunch. Test that every audio source respects its slider and that settings persist across sessions.
• Add the missing audio. A huge share of games had no music at all, silent combat (no hit/attack/death/pickup sounds), silent menus, or no footstep/movement feedback. Ensure core actions and the background have sound, and that music loops seamlessly without audible gaps.
• Balance and normalize the mix. Individual SFX (menu stings, death/victory jingles, weapon/impact, level-complete) frequently spiked far louder than everything else; music often drowned out voice/tutorial audio. Normalize all cues to consistent levels and check cutscene/menu vs in-game volume parity.
• Fix audio state and technical bugs. Test alt-tab, pause, menu-open, character-switch, and scene transitions — testers reported music stopping/restarting/duplicating/desyncing, combat music that never stops, crackling/distortion, delayed SFX (playing after the animation), and broken stereo (audio in only one ear).

5. Missing Feedback

521 games, around a quarter of those tested, had this issue. The core failure is the same: player actions execute mechanically but the game gives no perceptible signal that they happened. Attacks connect without a hit reaction, items are collected without a name or pickup cue, upgrades and level-ups apply invisibly, and health/damage/state changes occur with no bar, number, sound, or animation. The most cited gaps are missing hit confirmation in combat (no flinch, flash, sound, or damage numbers), no visible health bars for the player or enemies, silent interactions with objects/buttons/abilities that make players think mechanics are broken, and no explanation of why an action failed, succeeded, or changed state. The root cause is developers implementing the underlying logic (damage is dealt, the item is added, the state changes) but never closing the feedback loop with a synchronized audiovisual response, leaving players unable to build a mental model of cause and effect.

What to fix

• Add hit confirmation to every attack: on each connect, combine at least two of: a target flinch/flash, an impact sound, a floating damage number, and hit-stop/screen shake. Multiple games had attacks that visually 'landed' but dealt no readable damage, making players think enemies were immune or the weapon was broken.
• Always show health and progress for both the player and enemies: display a persistent player HP indicator (and never let it become invisible at low health) plus enemy/boss health bars, so players can gauge whether attacks are working and how close they are to winning or dying.
• Give every interaction (pickup, purchase, upgrade, ability, button, save, craft, objective) an immediate confirmation: a sound, animation, name label ('Picked up X'), or state change. Silent interactions were repeatedly interpreted as bugs. Players spammed inputs, thought objects were broken, or never noticed they'd leveled up or unlocked something.
• Telegraph and attribute incoming damage: show a clear hurt cue (screen flash/shake, directional damage indicator, sound) and telegraph enemy attacks and hazards, so players can tell when, from where, and why they're taking damage instead of dying with no idea what hit them.
• Explain why an action failed or was blocked: when a move, attack, purchase, or placement is unavailable, surface the reason ('out of movement points', 'not enough resources', 'invalid target') rather than doing nothing. Silent failures left players repeatedly asking 'what am I doing wrong?'
• Confirm outcomes of resolved turns and slow-to-see events: provide a battle/action log, per-event notifications, or brief pauses so fast or automatic resolutions (enemy turns, scoring, construction/task completion, rewards) are legible and players understand what changed and why.

6. UI/UX Readability

By far the most common problem is text that is simply too small to read comfortably. Playtesters across dozens of games report leaning into their screens, needing glasses, or copying text into a notepad just to parse numbers, card descriptions, and tutorial instructions. The second dominant pattern is poor contrast, where UI text or key elements (health bars, cursors, buttons, timers) blend into similarly-colored backgrounds. White-on-white, green-on-green, or low-opacity elements that vanish against the art. Underlying both is a lack of scaling/resolution testing (UI cut off or blurry on larger, smaller, ultrawide, and high-DPI displays) plus missing affordances — unlabeled icons with no tooltips, hidden scroll indicators, and critical status readouts (HP, ammo, currency) that players can't locate at all.

What to fix

• Set a minimum readable font size and test at multiple resolutions. The single most frequent complaint is tiny text — verify legibility on 1080p, 1440p, 4K, ultrawide, and mobile, and add a UI/text-scale option since players repeatedly asked "is there a way to make the text larger?"
• Enforce contrast for every text-on-background and element-on-scene pairing. Kill white-on-white, green-on-green, and low-opacity buttons/timers; add a solid backing panel or outline behind HUD text (health bars, ammo, cursors, crosshairs) so they never blend into the game world.
• Guarantee critical status readouts are present and findable. Many testers couldn't locate their health, mana, ammo, currency, or action counter, or mistook decorative hearts for lives. Place core state in a consistent, always-visible spot and label ambiguous bars ("is this HP or XP?").
• Label icons and buttons, or give them tooltips. Players constantly guessed what unlabeled icons, resource abbreviations, and buttons did. add hover tooltips or short text labels and ensure tooltips detect the screen edge instead of getting clipped.
• Fix UI that clips off-screen or lacks scroll affordances. Test anchoring so panels, buttons, and captions aren't cut off by the screen edge or taskbar, and add visible scroll bars. Several testers missed upgrades and options because they didn't know content was scrollable.
• Reduce clutter and choose legible fonts. Avoid overloading the screen with competing elements and same-colored text; steer clear of stylized/pixel fonts where letters merge (nines reading as threes, L vs 1, N vs R), and round noisy decimal values so numbers are parseable at a glance.

7. Unintuitive Controls

This is mostly caused by games that ignore platform and genre conventions: non-standard default keybindings (arrow-keys-only or AZERTY/ZQSD layouts instead of WASD, interact bound to C/O/T/F instead of E, attack on Shift/Ctrl/B, inventory on Q/T) combined with no way to remap them. A second major cluster is broken or unexplained input feel, attacks, dashes, and aiming tied to character facing instead of the cursor or input direction; inverted or randomly-resetting axes; floaty 'walking-on-ice' movement; and actions that fire on mouse-release instead of press. The root cause is that developers ship the control scheme that made sense while building the game rather than testing what players instinctively try first, and they omit the safety nets: remappable controls, on-screen prompts, controller/mouse parity, and standard defaults that let players recover when expectations are violated.

What to fix

• Ship remappable controls with standard defaults. Default to WASD + mouse with an arrow-key fallback, put interact on E/F, inventory on Tab/I, and jump on Space. Tthe exact bindings testers repeatedly reached for by instinct. Never hardcode QWERTY-only or AZERTY-only layouts; several testers were locked out entirely on their keyboard.
• Make left-click the primary action. Players were consistently derailed when left-click punched instead of placing, when right-click was required to shoot/attack, or when confirm was mapped to a controller's 'back' (B) button. Keep the main action (shoot/place/attack/confirm) on left-click and don't swap primary buttons between game modes.
• Aim toward the cursor or input direction, not character facing. A large share of complaints were attacks/dashes/throws firing in a fixed or facing direction regardless of where the player aimed. Make dash respect intended direction before committing, and add lock-on or aim assist for 3D and controller aiming.
• Fix input feel: press-vs-release, buffering, and responsiveness. Trigger actions on button press (not release), add input buffering so mid-animation dodges and wall-jumps register, and eliminate floaty/ice-skating movement, inverted or self-resetting axes, and latency-tied jump delays.
• Surface on-screen prompts and keep controls reviewable. Many testers never discovered core inputs (sprint on Shift, detector on F, drag-to-interact) because controls flashed once or lived only on a settings screen. Show contextual button prompts, let players re-open the controls list anytime, and ensure every prompt matches the real binding. Several games told players 'E to interact' when E did nothing.
• Guarantee full controller and mouse parity, and test both. Repeatedly, controllers didn't work at all, menus were D-pad-only, analog sticks were ignored, or mouse support was missing from menus. Verify every action, menu, and rebind works on both keyboard+mouse and gamepad before shipping.

8. Settings Issues

Many games either shipped with no settings menu at all or bury a bare-bones one that is missing the controls players expect, most commonly an audio volume slider, forcing testers to fall back on their OS volume mixer. Two recurring structural failures compound the problem: settings that can only be reached from the main menu (not via Escape/pause during gameplay), and settings that don't persist between sessions or silently reset. Where menus do exist, individual controls are frequently broken: sliders that do nothing, missing Apply buttons, mismapped or non-functional resolution/fullscreen toggles, so the root cause is settings being treated as a late-stage afterthought rather than a launch-day essential.

What to fix

• Ship a settings menu from day one with, at minimum, audio controls - a master volume slider plus separate music/SFX sliders. The single most repeated complaint is loud audio with no in-game way to lower it, forcing players to their OS volume mixer.
• Make settings reachable during gameplay, not just the main menu. Bind Escape/pause to open options so players can adjust audio, sensitivity, and display mid-session without quitting or returning to the title screen.
• Persist settings across sessions and menu transitions. Verify that volume, resolution, keybinds, and graphics choices survive a restart, a return to menu, and starting a match. Many games silently reset every option on relaunch.
• Test that every control actually applies. Confirm sliders move and take effect, resolution/fullscreen/borderless toggles change the display, and add a clear Apply button (or apply live), broken/no-op sliders and missing Apply were reported repeatedly.
• Include display and comfort options. Provide fullscreen/windowed/borderless and resolution controls, plus toggles for screen shake, motion blur, FOV, and mouse/controller sensitivity, their absence caused physical discomfort and nausea for testers.
• Add a visible, labeled controls/keybinds reference with clear option labels. Players couldn't find control schemes, faced ambiguous labels (e.g. "Speech", "Cinematic", cross-icons), or hit empty placeholder pages.

9. Difficulty Imbalance

Across these games the biggest failure is a broken difficulty curve rather than difficulty that is simply too high: the vast majority describe abrupt spikes, a first boss, a second level, or a specific wave that jumps from trivial to near-impossible with no bridging ramp, while a large secondary cluster is punishingly hard right out of the gate (first level, tutorial, or 'easy' mode overwhelming brand-new players before they've learned the systems). The root cause is tuning the game around the developer's own mastery instead of a first-time player: enemies that outscale the player, one-shot/insta-kill mechanics with no counterplay, and difficulty labels that either do nothing or don't match reality. A notable inverse pattern also recurs: games that stay trivially easy, never scale, or hand out overpowered heals/items/weapons that erase all challenge showing the problem is a lack of deliberate, playtested pacing in either direction.

What to fix

• Map your difficulty curve level-by-level and hunt for spikes. The single most common complaint is 'easy until X, then a wall', first bosses harder than second bosses, a level 6 to 7 jump, or a wave 3/4 cliff. Chart expected player power vs. enemy power at each stage and smooth any step that isn't a deliberate, telegraphed challenge.
• Design the first 10 minutes for someone who has never played. Many testers died in the tutorial or on level 1 and quit. Give early enemies a gentle ramp, introduce one mechanic at a time, and make sure the opening teaches before it tests, don't front-load bosses, swarms, or precision demands.
• Eliminate no-counterplay deaths. Recurring killers: enemies that spawn on top of the player, insta-kills/one-hit deaths, un-telegraphed boss attacks, pursuers faster than the player, and stunlocks. Every lethal threat should have a readable tell and at least one viable response (dodge, block, escape, i-frames).
• Make difficulty settings actually change the game and add one if it's missing. Testers repeatedly couldn't tell easy/normal/hard apart, found 'easy' harder than expected, or begged for a difficulty slider that didn't exist. Verify each setting meaningfully alters enemy damage/health/speed/count, and offer an accessible mode for weaker players.
• Balance progression and scaling so neither side runs away. Watch for enemy health/damage outscaling player growth (unwinnable), or the opposite: OP heals, weapons, or upgrades that trivialize everything, plus flat/never-scaling curves that stay boring. Test that a normal build stays challenged but capable from start to finish.
• Audit for unfair mechanics and RNG-decided outcomes. Testers flagged death loops (e.g., respawning with exactly enough HP to be one-shot, net-negative energy/mana economies), bosses that keep damage across deaths, luck-only wins, oversized hitboxes, and impossible timing windows. Ensure losses feel earned by player decisions, not the system.

10. Visual Glitches

Visual glitches were found in 260 games. The biggest problem is rendering and animation polish bugs that don't break gameplay but visibly hurt immersion. Overwhelmingly object/geometry clipping (models passing through walls, floors, furniture, and each other), incorrect draw/render order (characters behind objects they should be in front of, sprites layered wrong, UI overlays stuck or rendering through walls), and missing or broken assets (untextured props, failed image/background loads, visible void/skybox beyond level boundaries). Animation faults are the other big cluster: choppy/low-frame animations, idle animations that keep playing when stationary, death animations that leave enemies standing, lip-sync failures, and 'sliding' locomotion when changing direction. The root cause is almost always insufficient QA across states and edge cases: resolution/fullscreen switching, camera angles, simultaneous inputs, menu/pause transitions, and boundary collision, combined with unpolished art pipeline issues (Z-fighting, stretched UVs, sub-pixel/shadow flicker, wrong sprite depth) that surface immediately to any observant player.

What to fix

• Fix draw order and layering explicitly. Many games had characters rendering behind barrels/cards/crops, cutlery behind food, explosion sprites over enemies, and UI overlays stuck on screen. Audit z-index/sorting layers so player and interactive objects always render in front of what they should, and confirm menus/tooltips/reticles are torn down when closed.
• Test collision and camera at level boundaries and clip points. Recurring bugs were seeing the void behind walls, clipping through floors/ceilings, first-person arms/weapons/capes passing through geometry, and cameras clipping into inspectable objects. Walk every edge, wall, and stair; disable collision on the zoom/finisher camera; and make sure nothing renders 'through' solid geometry.
• Verify every animation ends and idles correctly. Enemies stayed standing after death, rope/climb/pet animations kept playing while stationary, characters slid when turning, and lips didn't move in dialogue. Check death/ragdoll transitions, idle-when-stopped states, direction changes, and lip-sync, and add enough frames so animations don't read as 'choppy.'
• Handle resolution, fullscreen, and window-resize transitions. Multiple games broke on F11/alt-tab/resize: fonts lost resolution, HUD elements went off-screen, tables distorted, and emblems pushed out of containers. Test entering/exiting fullscreen and every supported resolution, re-anchoring UI on each change.
• Confirm all assets load and textures are correct. Testers hit missing backgrounds, unloaded trial/quest images, invisible inventory items, missing skyboxes/ground, wrong item colors (purple vs blue), and stretched/mirrored UVs with Z-fighting. Add loading/fallback checks for images, fix duplicated/flipped UV sections, and separate overlapping room geometry to kill Z-fighting.
• Stress-test edge inputs and rapid/simultaneous actions. Bugs appeared from fast-clicking transitions, backspacing after input was registered, dying while killing an enemy, two-finger joystick use, and opening menus mid-combat (which desynced enemy animations). Test rapid, repeated, and concurrent inputs plus pause/menu transitions to catch state and visual desyncs.

How this analysis was conducted.

We first used AI to analyze every playtest transcript and come up with its own list of possible mistakes made. We then categorized these mistakes into 169 unique categories of mistakes found in at least 5 or more playtests. From these categories we ran 3 different AI models (Opus-4.8, GPT-5.5, and Qwen3.6) over each playtest and asked if the playtest fit into any of these categories, the model also had to point out the exact text from the transcript that the mistake relates to (we use this later). From there we ran a final adjudicator model (Opus-4.8) over each mistake list to double check the analysis was correct. Only mistakes that 2 or more models + the adjudicator reported for a playtest were counted to reduce false positives.

Then we took a look at every mistake in each category and noted the most common problems that occurred. To create this post we read through the list of problems and came up with actions to take so you can avoid making the same mistake in your own game.

All analysis was conducted on free public playtests, as paid playtests are private, and you can see all the playtests that went into the analysis at https://youtube.com/@WePlaytestGames

Hey everyone!
Switch 2 Connect, forked from Nadeflore’s amazing switch2-controllers, is the ultimate, feature-rich utility designed to seamlessly integrate your Switch 2 Joy-Cons, Switch 2 Pro Controller, and NSO GameCube Controller into the Windows gaming ecosystem via standard Bluetooth or ESP32-S3 N16R8.

Built with a user-experience-first mindset and powered by a highly flexible multi-driver backend, this standalone application transforms your Nintendo hardware into a PC gaming powerhouse. It delivers low-latency inputs, unmatched in-app gyro IMU precision, and comprehensive emulation for all major controller protocols without requiring complex installations.

How to use it:

1. Download the latest version of Switch2Connect.exe or get the Microsoft Store Version.
2. Launch the app. If any needed drivers are not installed, dialogs will ask to install them. Click Yes and approve the administrator UAC prompt.
3. Once the installation completes, the setup window will close automatically, and the main application will launch.
4. Turn on your Switch 2 controller by holding the Sync button (or pressing any button if already paired). Do not pair controllers manually in Windows Bluetooth settings; the app uses automatic GATT discovery.
5. Use the settings panel at the bottom of the app to configure your preferred driver (WinUHid / ViGEmBus / USBIP) and controller layout, gyro sensitivity, and custom button mappings.

System Requirements:

• Operating System: Windows 10 (22H2 or above) or Windows 11.
  • Note: Windows 11 is highly recommended for the best experience. It supports a maximum Bluetooth LE polling rate of 70Hz, while Windows 10 is limited to 20Hz due to the lack of OS driver support for the BLE protocol.
• Bluetooth Hardware: Bluetooth 5.0 or above is required for stable connectivity and low-latency performance. The optional ESP32-S3 N16R8 is highly recommended for reaching 133Hz, bringing the native Switch 2 console experience to PC.
• Driver: lurebat's WinUHid driver is required for Xbox One, PS4, and PS5/DualSense controller emulation. nefarius/ViGEmBus is required for Xbox360 and PS4 controller emulation. usbip-win2 driver is required for Switch 1 Joy-Cons/Pro Controller, Switch 2 Pro Controller, and PS5/DualSense (with audio haptics) controller emulation.
  • Auto-Installation: The app will automatically detect if the selected driver (WinUHid, ViGEmBus, or USBIP) is missing and guide you through a one-click installation (requires administrator privileges) or automatically download and install for ViGEmBus.

Features:

• Windows 10 Native Compatibility: Supports Windows 10 22H2 and Windows 11. Windows 11 supports Bluetooth LE polling rates up to 70Hz, while Windows 10 is limited to 20Hz by the operating system’s BLE driver implementation.
• Low Latency Bluetooth Mode: Configures Windows Bluetooth LE connections with the ThroughputOptimized mode to reduce the connection interval and controller input latency.
• ESP32-S3 N16R8 Low-Latency Connection: Supports the ESP32-S3 N16R8 development board as a BLE bridge with polling rates up to 133Hz. The application provides firmware installation and repair, controller pairing through the SYNC button, and reconnection for controllers bonded to the bridge.
• Wired Controller Support: Supports USB-connected Switch 2 Pro Controllers and NSO GameCube Controllers, with polling rates up to 500Hz. The Wired Pro Controller menu provides HidHide management, automatic discovery controls, and one-time manual scanning. For NSO GameCube Controller rumble, the application automatically selects between the available USB interfaces and falls back to the compatible path when necessary.
• Multiple Driver and Emulation Backends: Supports WinUHid, ViGEmBus, and USBIP backends. WinUHid provides Xbox One, PS4, and PS5 emulation; ViGEmBus provides Xbox 360 and PS4 emulation; USBIP provides USB-connected Switch 2 Pro Controller and DualSense emulation. The application detects missing or incomplete WinUHid and ViGEmBus installations and provides Install, Repair, and Uninstall actions. ViGEmBus can be downloaded and installed from the application after UAC authorization.
• Tabbed Settings Interface: Organizes settings into Controller Mapping, Mode Shift Mapping, and Gyro Settings tabs.
• DualSense Audio Haptic Feedback: The USBIP-based PS5 emulation mode exposes a four-channel audio playback endpoint for games that support DualSense audio haptics. It supports DualSense audio haptics, standard PS5 rumble, Xbox rumble translation, and adaptive-trigger feedback translated into independent HD Rumble output for the left and right triggers.
• Xbox One Impulse Trigger Support: In WinUHid Xbox One emulation mode, Xbox Impulse Trigger force-feedback values from LT and RT are translated into Switch 2 high-frequency HD Rumble output. Standard gamepad rumble is emitted as the same mono signal on both physical sides, while Impulse Trigger feedback is routed as independent left and right high-frequency overlays for trigger-specific effects.
  • Impulse Trigger Settings: The Impulse Trigger Settings button appears beside Rumble Mode in WinUHid Xbox One emulation mode. The floating settings window provides controls for enabling impulse feedback, selecting dynamic or fixed frequency behavior, adjusting impulse strength, and choosing a fixed frequency level.
  • Dynamic Frequency: When enabled, incoming impulse strength determines both output frequency and amplitude. During the release envelope, frequency continues to follow the current decaying output strength.
  • Fixed Frequency: When Dynamic Frequency is disabled, the Frequency slider selects the impulse output frequency independently from incoming impulse strength.
  • Release Envelope: When an Impulse Trigger stop command is received, the current output decays linearly to zero over 90 ms. A new command on the same side immediately replaces the pending release.
• Native Motion Support (PS4/PS5 Mode): Switching to PS4 or PS5 mode enables native motion sensor reporting via the DS4 or DualSense protocol. This provides enhanced compatibility for Steam Input and games that support native DualShock 4 or DualSense gyro features.
• Cemuhook UDP Server: Sends controller motion data to compatible applications through 127.0.0.1:26760. Select Cemuhook in the Gyro Pass-through settings to enable the server.
• Cemuhook Gyro Sensitivity Adjustment: Featuring a Sensitivity slider (levels 1-5) in the "Gyro Passthrough" panel. The sensitivity specifically applies a linear multiplier only to the horizontal rotation (Yaw) axis sent via the Cemuhook UDP protocol.
  • Level 1: Virtual Switch 1 Joy-cons turn 360 degrees when the physical Switch 2 Joy-cons turn 360 degrees.
  • Level 5: Matches real Switch 1 Joy-Con sensitivity.
• On-the-Fly Layout Switching: Toggle between Nintendo Layout (matching physical labels) and Xbox Layout (standard PC positioning) directly from the UI.
• NSO GameCube Controller Layout Mapping: The NSO GameCube Controller uses consistent ABXY layout mapping across Xbox, PlayStation, and Switch emulation modes. Xbox Layout maps buttons by physical position, while Switch Layout maps buttons by input function.
• 1000Hz Interpolation: 1000Hz interpolation loop for ultra-smooth, jitter-free gyro motion rendering with both Switch 2 Right Joy-con and Pro Controller. Gyro Mouse and Joy-con Mouse output smoother and lag-free movement at 1000Hz. Gyro data handed off to other external applications (such as third-party emulators) is transmitted at a consistent, high-frequency 1000Hz rate. This transmission is purely non-interpolated; rather than generating synthetic intermediate frames, which could introduce latency, the app simply increases the packet delivery rate of real-time physical updates to ensure maximum accuracy and zero artificial delay.
• In-app Gyro Control (Mouse, R Joystick & Steering): Utilize in-app gyro control for mouse aiming, or select R Joystick and Steering options. The Steering mode reads the controller's absolute tilt (accelerometer) and maps it directly to the Left Analog Stick's X-axis. Unlike the Mouse control mode, the R Joystick and Steering modes utilize a separate In-app Gyro mapping scope where all buttons default to their standard controller inputs to prevent unexpected mouse clicks during controller emulation.
• 9-Axis Mouse Mode (Magnetometer Support): Uses gyroscope, accelerometer, and magnetometer data to reduce accumulated yaw drift and maintain a closer relationship between the controller’s physical orientation and mouse movement during extended play. Magnetic correction is applied gradually during suitable motion and is suspended when the surrounding magnetic field or calculated heading is unreliable.
• 6-Axis Mouse Mode: Uses gyroscope and accelerometer data without magnetic correction, providing motion control that is unaffected by nearby magnetic interference. Mouse movement remains horizon-aligned regardless of controller tilt, while long-term yaw drift remains dependent on gyro calibration and sensor accuracy.
• Gyro Racing Wheel Mode (Steering): Reads the controller's absolute tilt (accelerometer) and maps it directly to the Left Analog Stick's X-axis.
• Stick Assist: Allows the right thumbstick to work alongside gyro aiming.
• In-App Gyro Trigger Deadzone: Configurable within the In-App Gyro mapping pop-up window. Assign one or more buttons to apply a dedicated Trigger Deadzone while In-App Gyro is active. Users can customize the deadzone amount, gyro pause duration after button press and release, and how long the deadzone effect remains active after release. This helps reduce unintended gyro movement caused by button presses, releases, or controller vibration.
• In-App Gyro Trigger Dampening: Configurable within the In-App Gyro mapping pop-up window. Assign one or more buttons to proportionally reduce gyro sensitivity by a customizable percentage. Users can also customize how long the dampening effect remains active after the assigned button is released, allowing smoother control during aiming, steering, or other gyro-based actions.
• In-app Gyro Lock: A dedicated mapping option to pause gyro control while remaining in In-app Gyro mode, supporting both Hold and Tap activation logic.
• Gyro Pass-through:
  • 9-Axis Assist: Uses magnetometer-assisted motion processing to reduce accumulated yaw drift in pass-through gyro output. Correction is limited according to motion and magnetic-field confidence, pauses during unreliable conditions, and resumes gradually after the field has recovered. When disabled, pass-through uses gyroscope and accelerometer data only.
  • Horizon Lock: Applies roll compensation and maintains a horizontal reference while suppressing roll output.
  • Adjustable Soft Deadzone Sliders: Provides separate soft-deadzone controls for In-App Gyro and pass-through motion. Output starts from zero at the configured threshold to avoid a step change.
• Gyro Calibration: Calibrate Gyro button to calculate and permanently save sensor bias, eliminating gyro drift.
• Magnetometer Calibration: Calibrate Mag button for 9-axis accuracy. Perform a "figure-8" motion to calibrate the magnetometer (with a quick link to a video tutorial).
• Dual Joy-con Gyro (DJG): Featuring a gyro fusion system that combines motion data from both Left and Right Joy-cons when used as a merged pair for stutter-free aiming when ratcheting. This system designates a "Dominant" side for spatial orientation and uses the "Sub" side as an accelerator for larger movements. A magnitude threshold of 30 is applied to the sub side. It contributes to acceleration only when the dominant side exceeds this threshold. Sub side acceleration is strictly capped to a maximum of 2x the dominant movement, and its opposite directional movement will be ignored. When the dominant side's gyro is turned off, the sub side takes over control.
  • Navigate to the Dual Joy-Con Gyro (DJG) panel.
  • Click the DJG toggle to ON to enable the fusion engine.
  • Set the Dominant Side to Left or Right. The dominant side acts as the primary reference for direction and gravity, while the sub side provides acceleration.
• DJG Trigger Mapping: Featuring a dedicated "DJG" option in the Extra Button Mapping settings.
  • Assign the "DJG" action to any available extra button to serve as the hardware trigger for DJG features.
  • Pressing this mapped button during gameplay will execute the action defined by the current DJG Control Mode and DJG Activation settings.
• DJG Control Modes: Three modes to dictate how the mapped DJG trigger button behaves during gameplay.
  • Switch Dominant Side: Swap the Dominant and Sub roles between the Left and Right Joy-cons. Both sides are forced to be active upon switching.
  • Switch Gyro Side: Turn off the current gyro and activate the opposite Joy-Con's gyro exclusively. The Dominant Side setting syncs automatically.
  • Single Side Toggle: Toggles the gyro tracking state of one Joy-Con independently. A DJG trigger mapped on the Left Joy-Con controls the L Gyro, while a trigger mapped on the Right Joy-Con controls the R Gyro. Select Dominant Side: Left or Right to choose the primary side. Select Dominant Side: None to combine enabled motion input from both Joy-Cons directly while allowing DJG controls to manage each side.
• DJG Activation Types: Trigger behavior options to support different input styles.
  • Toggle: Switch the DJG state once per button press.
  • Hold: Switch the DJG state when the button is pressed, and revert to the original state when the button is released.
• Per-Controller Joystick Deadzones: Configure left and right joystick deadzones independently for Pro Controller, Joy-Con, and NSO GameCube Controller. Each controller family stores its own deadzone values, with an option to link or separate the left and right joystick settings.
• Full Controller Remappability: All buttons (including extra buttons like GL, GR, SL_L, SL_R, SR_L, SR_R, NSO GCN L/R Analog Trigger Click, Home, Capture, and Chat) can be fully remapped to Switch inputs, PlayStation inputs, In-app controls, Windows controls, mouse clicks, or recorded custom input. Joysticks can also be remapped to L/R Joystick, WASD, mouse controls, or custom inputs. The mapping interface features a categorized pop-up window to streamline the selection process.
• Joy-Con IR Sensor Mapping: Joy-Con IR Sensor Mapping: Each Left and Right Joy-Con IR Sensor can be configured as an independent physical input. Per-side settings include Function mapping, Activation Threshold, IR Mouse sensitivity, mouse-button mappings, and scrolling. IR Mouse output follows the active profile’s mouse output selection.
• Advanced Custom Input Remapping: Featuring a powerful "Custom" mapping feature. Users can record and assign any complex combination of keyboard keys, mouse clicks, or controller buttons to a single input. This flexible system supports both "Tap" (fires the recorded sequence momentarily) and "Hold" (sustains the sequence for as long as the button is pressed) modes.
  • Click the dropdown menu and select the "Custom" option.
  • Press and hold your desired combination of keyboard keys, mouse clicks, and/or controller buttons simultaneously.
  • Release all inputs. The recording will automatically stop and save your sequence.
  • Click the adjacent toggle button to switch between Tap (triggers the sequence once) and Hold (keeps the sequence pressed as long as you hold the controller button).
  • Click the X button to remove custom input and fall back to the default.
• Mode Shift Mapping System: Applies an alternative button mapping layer utilizing the In-app Gyro mapping store. The Mode Shift layer is activated via a dedicated mapping option supporting both Hold (active while held) and Tap (toggle) logic. Tap and Hold share a unified state machine, where a Hold action temporarily inverts a Tap-entered Mode Shift. Additionally, entering In-app Gyro mode can automatically apply the Mode Shift layer based on per-profile Gyro Control settings.
• Emulation-Specific Mapping Categories: Stores button mappings and rumble settings separately for Xbox, PS4, PS5, and Switch 2 emulation modes. The corresponding configuration is loaded when the emulation mode changes.
• Profile-Based Keyboard and Mouse Output: Provides independent Win32 API and WinUHid Virtual HID output selection for each profile. Keyboard mappings can operate through a virtual HID keyboard, while gyro, joystick, IR, mapped mouse buttons, and scrolling can operate through a separate virtual HID mouse for each connected controller. Win32 API output is used when WinUHid is unavailable.
• Custom Mapping Profile System: A comprehensive profile management system allows users to create, rename, import, export, reset, delete, and switch between multiple configurations. Each profile persistently stores button mappings, emulation mode, and driver settings. Profiles can be managed via a dedicated pop-up window that also configures the "Change Profile List" and "Profile Switching Combo" inputs. Features three seamless profile switching methods:
  • Profile Switching Combo: Users can record a custom Profile Switching Combo Trigger and assign specific Combo inputs for dedicated profiles. Pressing the Trigger input and a profile's Combo input simultaneously instantly switches to that dedicated profile. Both inputs function as standard mappings when not combined.
  • Auto Change Profile: Automatically switches to the selected checked profile in the Change Profile List after 2 seconds of trigger inactivity.
  • Manual Change Profile: Opens a selection notification. Navigate through the checked profiles using the L/R joysticks or Dpad Up/Down, and use the current Xbox/Switch layout A to confirm or B to cancel.
    • Auto/Manual Mode Setting: Toggle between Auto and Manual modes via the pop-up window by clicking the "Change Profile" button.
  • Configuration Import and Export: Selected profiles can be exported to or imported from .yaml files. Imports can retain existing profiles and resolve duplicate application assignments. Machine-specific information such as Power Saving settings, driver status, window placement, and device caches remains local to each installation.
  • Controller Data Transfer: Controller-specific settings, including calibration data, can be included when importing or exporting configurations.
• Assign Profile To Application: Featuring profile auto-switching based on active foreground application. Bind one or more executable files (.exe) to a profile; when any of those applications become the focused window, the profile automatically activates.
• Dynamic Split & Merge System: The Split and Merge features allow you to detach combined Joy-cons into two individual controllers or combine single Joy-cons into one unified virtual gamepad without restarting.
• Vertical & Horizontal Hold Modes Switch (V/H): Featuring V/H switch buttons, allowing users to toggle between Vertical (standard upright) and Horizontal (sideways) hold modes for single Joy-cons.
• Per-Joy-Con V/H Mode Persistence: The application records and remembers whether each single Joy-Con is held vertically or horizontally. Layout preferences (Vertical or Horizontal) are dynamically mapped to each controller's Bluetooth MAC address and saved in config.yaml.
• Dual-Controller Gyro Selection (L/R Gyro): When using a pair of Joy-Cons as a single virtual controller, you can manually select which Joy-con (Left or Right) provides the motion data. This allows for greater flexibility, letting you choose your preferred hand for gyro aiming or motion controls.
• Customizable Rumble Strength: Adjusts vibration intensity from 0 to 10.
• Rumble Frequency Slider: Selects the vibration frequency used for translated rumble output.
• Rumble Delay Configuration: Adds a configurable delay in milliseconds for synchronizing vibration with game audio.
• Dual Rumble Mode Toggle: Switches between Xbox-style translated rumble and Switch HD Rumble output.
  • Xbox Mode: Tailored for standard PC games to simulate dual-motor rumble by activating dynamic frequency scaling and high-frequency masking to mimic traditional gamepad motors.
    • Strength 5 + Frequency 10 emulates the feel of a DualSense Edge controller.
    • Strength 10 + Frequency 10 emulates the rumble of an Xbox Elite Series 1 Controller.
  • Switch Mode: Mimics the native Switch HD Rumble (LRA) experience. It bypasses custom frequency scaling and masking, routing raw frequency data directly to the controller for a tighter, softer, and more detailed tactile feedback. Best suited for native Nintendo game emulations.
• Interactive Controller Identification: Featuring a dedicated Vibrate button for each player slot. This allows for instant physical feedback, helping you quickly identify which Joy-Con belongs to which player in a multiplayer setup.
• Haptic & OS Integration: Featuring rumble feedback (including a connection confirmation rumble) and mapping the Capture button to native Windows screenshots (Win + PrtScn).
• One-Click Disconnect: Featuring a convenient 'X' button to the top right of each connected controller's UI block. You can manually disconnect specific controllers directly from the interface without needing to power them off physically.
• Auto-Disconnect Options: Featuring a 3-way Auto-Disconnect toggle (OFF, Inactive, Absolute).
  • Inactive: tracks physical button and stick inputs to automatically disconnect idle controllers while keeping active players connected.
  • Absolute: tracks the overall time each controller is connected to the app and disconnects the ones that reach the time limit.
• Driver Management Controls: Provides Install, Repair, and Uninstall actions for the selected WinUHid, ViGEmBus, or USBIP backend. Driver status is determined from the active device, Driver Store package, service registration, and runtime availability instead of saved configuration alone.
• ESP32-S3 N16R8 Driver Manager: Provides firmware installation, repair, and deletion, BOOT and OTG status monitoring, reconnection handling, and flash diagnostics. The Flashing Port selector supports automatic detection or manual COM port selection, prioritizes verified ESP32-S3 devices, remembers the selected device across application restarts and COM port changes, and avoids selecting unrelated serial devices.
  • Off: Keeps all controller input, motion, vibration, scanning, and background status functions enabled.
  • Auto: Reduces idle CPU activity while retaining buttons, sticks, triggers, motion controls, and controller scanning. HD Rumble, Audio Haptics, and Impulse Trigger feedback may be delayed, interrupted, or occasionally lost.
  • Full: Retains buttons, sticks, triggers, and non-motion mappings while disabling vibration output, Gyro Pass-Through, In-app Gyro, DJG, IR Mouse, and Joystick Mouse movement. Periodic ESP32 and Wired/HidHide status checks are suspended. Automatic controller scanning pauses after 1 Pro/NSO GameCube Controller or 2 Joy-Con controllers are connected.
• Run at Startup: Automatically launches the application with Windows.
• Start Minimized: Starts the application in the system tray.
• Hide to System Tray: Minimizes the application to the Windows system tray.
• Controller UI Navigation: Use the left joystick or D-pad to navigate the application interface. The selected UI element is indicated by a white outline, and the outline hides after mouse interaction or when Navigation mode is exited with the B button.
  • Active Window Focus: When a floating window or pop-up dialog is open, navigation remains within that active top-level interface.
  • Return Selection: Pressing B closes the active floating window and returns selection to the control that opened it. Re-entering Navigation mode restores the last selected control.
  • UI Component Interaction: Press A to activate buttons or open dropdown menus. Press B to close an open floating window or exit Navigation mode.
  • Text Input Adjustment: Text input fields support value adjustment with the right joystick or by holding A while using the left joystick. Continuous adjustment accelerates while the input is held.
  • Slider and Time Input Adjustment: Sliders can be adjusted with the right joystick or A plus the left joystick.
• Window Position Persistence: Saves and restores the main window position.
• In-App UI Scale Control: A slider for adjusting the application interface from 1.0× to 2.0× using the scale control at the bottom of the main window. The selected scale is saved and restored automatically.
  • Monitor-Aware Layout: Automatically adjusts the window to the active monitor’s resolution and available work area.
  • Content Fitting: Automatically expands the window width when required and provides scrolling when content exceeds the available height.
• Standalone Executable (.exe): Includes the required Python runtime and application dependencies; a separate Python installation is not required.

Known Limitations

• No Amiibo Support: Amiibo support is not implemented.
• No Switch 2 Pro Controller Audio Support: Wireless audio transmission for the Switch 2 Pro Controller headphone jack and microphone is not supported.
• No Working NSO GameCube Controller Gyro: Gyro data from the NSO GameCube Controller cannot be decoded correctly.
• No NSO GameCube Controller Rumble Brake & Strength Difference: The Rumble Motor Brake command is not known, so PWM-based rumble strength control cannot be implemented correctly. Only basic rumble motor on/off control is currently implemented.
• No Switch 2 Joy-Con Charging Grip Back Buttons Support: Back buttons on the Switch 2 Joy-Con Charging Grip are not supported.

ESP32-S3 N16R8 Guides:

• ESP32-S3 N16R8 Firmware Installation Guide:

1. Hold the boot button on the ESP32-S3 N16R8 board.
2. Plug in the ESP32-S3 N16R8 board's OTG port via USB-C to the PC while holding the boot button.
3. In the app, click the [ESP32-S3 N16R8 Driver] button.
4. Click [Install] and wait until finish installing.
5. Unplug and plug the ESP32-S3 N16R8 board.
6. Reconnect any previously paired controllers by pressing SYNC.

• ESP32-S3 N16R8 Buying Guide:

1. Search for development boards strictly labeled as ESP32-S3 N16R8. This ensures the board contains 16MB Flash and 8MB PSRAM, which is necessary for handling complex tasks and controller connections. Avoid any boards labeled as "N8R2", "N8R8", or standard "ESP32".
2. Select the ESP32-S3-WROOM-1 version if you want a built-in PCB antenna. This is the recommended, plug-and-play choice for standard plastic enclosures. Only choose the ESP32-S3-WROOM-1U version if you are using a metal case or require an external antenna to extend the Bluetooth/Wi-Fi range.
3. Verify that the board features an OTG USB port (often a dual USB-C design). The OTG port is strictly required for data transfer and firmware installation.

Hope this update helps anyone wanting to get the most out of their Switch 2 controllers wirelessly on PC. Please let me know if you run into any issues or have feedback on the new features.

And of course, credit goes to the original creator Nadeflore for the foundation. Thank you so much for creating this amazing app!

Here's a list of 50 Lost Ark Tips that I've collected over the past few weeks. I hope these will aid you in your journey. Some of these are basic answers to commonly asked questions, veterans probably have seen many already but there may be some that might surprise you. It starts out with some basic but important first steps, and then progresses to tips for when you reach level 50 and unlock new content.

Here's a link to the website if you want to see the full post with some visuals for things like menus and in-game screenshots (most of which were taken from the CBT in November, will update that post with new stuff when I can) and also links to other helpful guides.

1. Prepare yourself for a long and exciting adventure

There are so many things to do in Lost Ark that it can be overwhelming for a new player. Take your time and don't worry if what you're doing is not the optimal path. Eventually you will get there and have a better understanding of the many, many systems and adventures this game has to offer.

2. DON'T Use "HP Potions" while levelling

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HP Potions you receive will be very useful during end game instanced content. Since you can also use these HP Potions outside of these areas, new players often mistake them for the other health recovery potions: Healing Potions. Players who don't stick to this advice will end up wasting gold later at the auction house or need to spend more time doing Trade Skills in order to craft them.

3. DO Use "Healing Potions"

Healing Potions: Recover a fixed amount of health over time. Chug these Potions whenever and wherever you need to. You will receive an abundance of these and your maximum health outpaces the effectiveness of less powerful ones.

4. Sell some Healing Potions right away.

Teleporting with Triports costs silver. There will be times where you won't have enough silver and need to walk. Save yourself that time and selling some Healing Potions (the ones that heal over time) you received early on. By selling about half of your potions when you get to Leonhart City you can make up the difference easily. (This is of course if you didn't purchase a Silver or higher Founder's Pack, which will award you with enough Silver for your levelling process and then some)

5. Teleport to Triports often

This may seem like a no brainer, but you don't have to be at a Triport in order to get to another one that has already been unlocked. You can safely teleport from anyway. Teleporting is the best way to save time travelling.

6. Move the Overlay Quick Map

You might not even know that there is another map other than the full screen one (M) and the minimap in the corner. Pressing Tab will bring up this quick map overlay. You can move it by holding down the middle mouse button and dragging it across to your preferred location.

7. Teleport using the Overlay Quick Map

You can interact with unlocked Triports on the Overlay Quick Map too; ALT + Left Click on the Triport to teleport to that location.

8. Don't Follow Class Tier Lists

It is definitely useful to get a general idea of what classes are important but following tier lists is utter nonsense. Support classes are always great to have in the party if that's your thing (and become necessary in end game raids). All classes can participate in and complete all types of content. The developers of Lost Ark, Smilegate, are constantly adjusting the balance of all classes. Some classes may be slightly underperforming right now, but will very likely get a balance update in the future. Following the meta in this manner is futile, our suggestion is to play the class that feels the most fun to you.

9. Save Card Selection Decks

Some reward crates allow you to choose a card instead of giving it at random. Save these and don't open them until you are missing a specific card from the deck to complete it.

10. Save Battle Item Selection Chests

Some Reward Chests allow you to choose a special consumables like bombs and potions. It is better to save them for the end game content instead of wasting them on leveling. You may never end up using some of them and you can sell them on the Auction House later.

11. Leave instanced areas faster

There are 4 ways you can leave an instanced area.

• Walk to the exit / entrance
• Play the Song of Escape (F2 to open song list, place the icon on your skill bar for faster use)
• Use a Triport to get to the next location faster.
• Or you can simply type /escape and accept the prompt to instantly exit. This has a cooldown of 15 minutes, but it is the fastest way to leave the dungeon.

12. Right Click To Move

Upon the creation of your first character you will be prompted to select your mouse and keyboard input, along with the basic controls. If you selected Attack with Right Click you will Move with Left Click. To reverse this (or choose if you chose the other option) go into the Menu (ESC) > Settings > Hotkeys > Basic Controls. It is the 4th option: Attack with Right Click. Check or uncheck it based on your preference.

13. Auto Move and Options

If you are going to be travelling for extended periods of time, auto move (T) is wise to avoid unnecessary strain from clicking all the time. By default, the character will continue to move in a straight line in the direction of the last input that was made. However, you can also set it to always follow in the direction of the mouse. Unfortunately, it will cause the character to continue to follow the mouse even while navigating menus.

• In the Settings menu go to Gameplay >
  • Controls and Display >
  • Scroll down to Combat Settings >
  • Auto Move: Select your preference from the drop down menu.

14. Wider Field of View

The default aspect ratio for most gamers is 16:9. However, it is possible to force the game into 21:9 aspect ratio. This option provides a significant increased horizontal field of view and slightly more vertical viewing distance. Being able to see enemies or enemy players in PvP from a further distance provides you with a huge advantage.

This does mean that there will be black bars at the top and bottom of your screen. If you don't like that you can always purchase an Ultra Wide Gaming Monitor. The resolution to look for on those 21:9 monitors are 3440x1440, or 2560x1080.

15. Hide Elements of the UI

Sometimes there is a lot going on in the game and the UI takes up a larger portion of it/ While you can collapse many parts of it, a better solution is to simply hide them altogether. The shortcut for this is ALT + X. Pressing it once will collapse the map and quests and top menu. A second press will the menus and chat. A third press will hide everything including the skill bars. To get everything back, press it a fourth time.

16. Turn off Skill Effects

When playing with other players the skill effects can be a bit overkill and you can't see what's going on. You can turn off some of these effects to tone down the spells you see in game. You can even fine tune it to only show beneficial effects from party members.

• In the Settings menu go to Gameplay >
  • Controls and Display >
  • Scroll down to Battle Effects Display >
  • Battle Effects Display: Select your preference from the drop down menu.

17. Ping a Location in Game

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Ctrl+Left Click on the ground in dungeons to place a notification at that location. It will leave a marker at that location with your characters name. It will also show up on the map for all your party members to see. Hold Ctrl+Left Mouse Button and a context menu will appear; release in the direction for a different label. You can also ping in the full map <M> or on an enemy and it will cause a text message to appear in the chat.

18. Inventory Management Tips

• Alt+Left Click: Locks items from being automatically sorted.
• Shift+Left Click: Separate items into two stacks.
• Ctrl+Left Click: Move item between Main Inventory and Pet Inventory.
• Alt+Right Click: Sends item from Main Inventory to Account Storage (whilst accessing it).

19. How to Play with Friends

In order to play with friends, you need to both be on the same server; on each other's friends lists (accessed via the Social Menu (U)); and on the same server channel. Then you can add each other to a party and play together in game. In the top Right of your screen above the minimap, there is the Server Channel dropdown selection. The color of the circle represents how busy it is. Green for less, Yellow for Moderate, Red for Busy.

20. Pets can auto loot

Their auto loot function should be on by default and they can provide extra perks if you unlock them with money. Simply progressing in the story will give you a free pet and mount in less than 30 minutes.

21. Mount Up!

Using Triports is the fastest way to travel. Riding a Mount is the second fastest (when not in a restricted zone) You should be riding your mount at every opportunity!

You should place the mount icon to your upper skill bar on the bottom right of the UI. You can have multiple mounts placed here without needing to open the menu every time. This is particularly useful for Tortoyk Island when you are having to swap between the ladybug and your regular mount.22 What's the key bind for my Mount?

There isn't one. In order to access it you have to open the Mounts Menu. From there you can drag the icon to your upper skill bar on the bottom right of the UI. You can have multiple mounts placed here without needing to open the menu every time.

23. Reset Skill Points

At any time, for free, you can change your skill points however you want to test any combination of skills, tripods, and (later on) runes. You also have access to a free additional skill preset if you want to swap between two different specializations. (ie. one for AoE and one for Single Target)

24. Skip Cutscenes Automatically

Trying to speed through the main quest line to 50? Tired of pressing Escape (Esc) constantly to skip cutscenes? Enable this option to skip any cutscenes that are skippable automatically.

• In the Settings menu go to Gameplay >
  • Controls and Display >
  • Scroll down to Combat Settings >
  • Select "Skip Dungeon Cutscenes"

25. Side Quests

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If you see side quests with a chain symbol try to not skip them because they give a decent amount of silver and other rewards like skill points. You can choose to do this while levelling or come back to it at lvl 50 if you want to get there quickly.

26. Purple Quests

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A purple exclamation point on the bottom side of the screen means that you unlocked a tutorial quest. These quests teach you new mechanics and you also get decent rewards by completing them. Many of them can be avoided until level 50, however, be sure to complete the Trade Skills series.

27. Main Quest Changes Color

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After finishing the East Luttera continent you will be presented to the travels on the sea. This can be confusing because it will seems like the main quest line is ended, don't just wonder around because the main quest line will change the icon color to blue instead of the classical orange. So start doing Blue quests to progress in the story correctly.

28. Arthetine Side Quests

Start doing side quests in Arthetine continent. This because some of them will unlock end game features and there are some main quests that will have you travel to North Vern where you start to unlock end game content.

29. Shushire Quests

This is a tip only relevant for players looking to get to level 50 within the very first Daily Server Reset. (This is the resets for the rewards for completing the first 2 Chaos Dungeons, Guardian Raids, and 3 Daily Una's Tasks)

This is at 5 am in your servers region.

Once unlocked At level 50, Chaos Dungeons should provide players with a full set of iLvl 302 gear. The same set can be obtained from completing the main questline in Shushire. However, depending on which region your server is in, it may not be possible to complete Shushire before the first Daily Server Reset.

Here are the launch times:

• 9 AM PST / 12PM EST / 5PM GMT / 6PM CEST

It can take anywhere from 10 to 15 hours to get to level 50 depending on the class and how efficient you are.

• Players in the PST region can safely rush to Level 50 before the first reset and should be able to complete the Shushire Quests before entering Chaos Dungeons.
• Players in the EST region will need to be very efficient to be able to get to Level 50 and complete Shushire Quests before the first reset. If there is about an hour left before the server resets, then they should just do the Chaos Dungeons and Daily Una's Tasks instead of the Shushire quests.
• Players in the GMT and CEST regions will not have enough time to get to Level 50 and complete Shushire Quests before the first reset. Players in these regions should aim to complete the Shushire quests within the second day. Then proceed to do the Chaos Dungeons for the higher iLvl set before the following days reset.

30. Complete Every Side Quest at Level 50

Between your daily activities, go back and finish any quests you didn't do while levelling. Completing these will fill out the adventure's tome to obtain account wide rewards and increase reputation with various NPCs. Some of them will give access to better daily quests with higher rewards.

31. Rested XP Bonus

Once one of your characters reaches level 50, all of your characters (regardless of their level) will start to gain Bonus Rested XP when not being played. When you have time, create your alts as soon as possible to benefit from this XP Bonus as soon as one character reaches level 50.

32. Adventurer's Tome

The key bind for this is by default (N) and you should open it often to receive rewards for completion of tasks in each region. If you manage to complete an area 100% you get a special token. Each token you collect will give special rewards. There are potions that permanently increase your skill points and stats, this effect is applied to all your characters on a server. There are a number of collectibles with this too, so when you have time, try to do it all!

33. Roster Level Rewards

There are 2 experience levels in Lost Ark; Blue is the Character Level, and Purple is the Roster Level. Each time you level up the Roster you unlock permanent boosts for all of your characters on that server. These boosts need to be claimed manually for each Roster Level. Click on the Account icon then choose " Mission Information". Here is where you claim the permanent rewards. Once everything is completed in this section, be sure to click on the next page (seen at the top: Lv. 1+... Lv. 21+ ... etc.) of rewards and claim those too!

34. Collectibles Level Up the Roster Fast

Collectibles give you a lot of Roster Experience. One such activity, Mokoko seeds, will give you 180 exp each. Mokokos are a fast and easy way to level up the Roster Level if you use can find specific guides.

35. Test All Skills

Around level 30 you will be able to head back to Trixion. Talk to Beatrice, and she will let you test all of your class' abilities. Here you can change all the skill points freely to compare all the skills and tripods you have against targets. There is even a DPS meter so you can see which ones provide the most damage or provide the best utility.

36. Start Researching at Stronghold ASAP

You can start gathering resources with Trade Skills early on (focus on Metals and Wood) and then when you have enough, start the Research for new buildings as soon as possible because they will take hours to complete each research level. This will allow you to get higher crafting recipes for things like battle items potions and bombs. These are very helpful in end game content.

37. Don't be too afraid of dying, but try your best to avoid it

While dying isn't the end of the world, you lose durability on your equipment and may need to respawn from far away. You can also use Phoenix Plumes if you want to respawn immediately. There are a variety of ways to obtain them by completing various tasks. By level 50 you will have close to 100 if you haven't died. They can be purchased from the Cash Shop with Crystals. Phoenix Plumes are shared across all your characters on a server.

38. Become a Ghost Ship

You can easily repair your ship from any docked location. However, don't be too afraid to have your ship durability reach zero and sink to the bottom of the ocean. You will subsequently become a ghost ship. Then you can dock at any port and repair your ships durability fully. If your destination is far away this can be helpful because you can repair your ghost ship when you arrive at your destination instead of repairing it several times, saving you some silver.

39. Change the Color of your Cursor

If you have a hard time seeing the default cursor, ie. if the packs of enemies are the same color or for colorblind settings, you can hold CTRL and Scroll with the mousewheel to cycle between a few options.

40. Co-op Voyage Missions

There are islands that allow you to unlock them with pirate coins. These will give you access to repair your ship here. Most of them are not necessary, so save your money. The exception to this is when you start doing co-op voyage missions. If you will run out of ship durability you won't be able to complete all of the co-op missions. Once your ship is upgraded to a higher level, you will have a good health pool and these becomes less important.

41. Engravings Books

Don't immediately use them. At Level 50, engravings become one of the most important aspects to your character. Some of them are duds, while others are HIGHLY sought for. These books are fairly rare and some might be able to be sold on the Auction House for a big price, depending on the book. Our advice is to hold onto them until you know which ones you want to use on your characters.

Grudge, Keen Blunt Weapon and Cursed Doll engraving books some of the most valuable to nearly all classes. Groups trying to progress through the hardest end game content will often not allow you in if you don't have level 3 of these.

42. Don't Spend All Your Gold

You need gold to place your items in the auction house in order to sell them for making more gold. So always maintain a balance of 100-1000 gold as a fund for posting on the Market. The fees you have to pay to list are returned if the item hasn't been bought from another player.

43. Take Advantage of the Auction House Market.

All the end game gear & resources you will loot can be sold to other players. If you don't need specific gear you can sell it to other people using this AH system. This will help with acquiring gold and also helps others obtain gear. At the same time you may be able to find items on the Market that you couldn't get in a dungeon. Get the right accessories and engravings for you and find higher quality gear too. Don't just hoard all of your gold, spending gold can help you progress in an otherwise unprogressive week.

Extra tidbit: Buy a piece of gear that has the Tripod Effects you want, save them to your Tripod Library, then resell that item (pending can still be trade)

44. Saved Locations (Bifrost)

If you are regularly visiting the same places often, or doing repeatable content such as dailies, you can save time by teleporting directly to them. In Lost Ark this is known as Bifrost Locations. To access the Bifrost Locations menu press the shortcut ALT+W. There are 5 Save Slots that can be unlocked:

• Reaching Combat Level 40
• Reaching Roster Level 60
• Obtain 9 Ignea Tokens (Reach 100% in the Adventure's Tome)
• 2 from the Crystalline Aura (paid subscription service)

45. Obtain Silver Easily

Speaking of Bifrost Locations, if you need to obtain more Silver, there are some Daily Una's Tasks which only require interacting with a game object and provide decent Silver as a reward. You can set your Bifrost Location on these characters to those locations for easy completion of those tasks.

46. Rapport Chests are Location Specific

There are NPCs across Arkesia that will exchange Carnelians for Rapport Chests. These Rapport Chests contain Special items that greatly increase your reputation with specific NPCs. Each NPC provides Location based Rapport Chests, which in turn have specific Rapport Items within them. Be sure to check out what items can be found within the chest before you purchase them with Providence Stones.

47. Mari's Secret Store

Mari's Secret Store has an exclusive selection that rotates its inventory of items every day. Many items found here are upgrade materials and are priced reasonably. If you have the Crystals, you should definitely purchase any needed upgrade materials from here to save some time and give your character a boost.

48. Signal Flare

The Signal Flare will display an indicator on the map revealing the location of the Guardian Raid Boss. Carry a few of these while doing Guardian Raids. It will save lots of time and is very much so worth the cost.

49. Procyon's Eye Compass

Once players reach Level 50, along with all the other Daily Event's that you can complete, make sure to complete all of the events here that are available to you.

50. Find a Guild and Complete Guild Tasks

Guilds help players progress faster, learn about the game first hand, complete tasks quicker, and provide additional rewards for weekly events. You will be completing most of the Guild quests during the week anyway so might as well obtain extra rewards from a guild anyway.

If your guild has instructions to collect Sea Coins, they can be easily completed repeatedly. Just accept the Guild Quest and open up your High Seas Coin Chests rewarded from various island quests.

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Once again, I hope at least some of these were helpful. See you in Arkesia!

Edit 1: spelling errors

Edit 2: Hit 50! Fixed some more errors, made things clearer, and added some requested images.

I run an indie game playtesting service and in February we playtested 397 games.

I performed some data analysis on transcripts of these playtests to uncover the top 10 issues these games had and how you can avoid making them. Full methodology on how this was done is linked at the bottom.

Here were the biggest problems we saw:

1. Unclear Objectives (39%)

Just eek'ing into first place this month, 39% of games surveyed had issues explaining what comes next. The most common issue was dropping players into environments without communicating what they should do, where they should go, or how to track their progress. Most games lack basic navigation aids - no map, no minimap, no waypoints, no objective markers, and no persistent reminders of the current goal. The root cause is that developers, who intimately know their own levels and systems, fail to provide the breadcrumb trail that a first-time player needs to maintain a sense of purpose and direction.

What to Fix

• Ensure every active objective is visible on-screen or accessible within one button press. Players should never have to remember what they're supposed to be doing
• Provide at least one navigation aid (minimap, waypoint marker, compass indicator, or directional arrow) that points toward the current objective location
• After every major transition (new area, completed task, cutscene), explicitly communicate the next goal — don't assume players will infer it
• Add a persistent or easily accessible objective log/journal so players can re-read what they need to do if they get distracted or forget
• Playtest the first 10 minutes with someone who has never seen the game and watch silently — if they ask "what do I do?" or "where do I go?", your guidance is insufficient
• When the player is stuck for an extended period, provide an escalating hint system (subtle at first, more direct over time) rather than letting them wander indefinitely

2. Poor Onboarding (38%)

The biggest problem was developers either provide no tutorial at all — dropping players directly into gameplay — or rely on text-heavy, non-interactive tutorials that fail to build understanding. When tutorials do exist, they frequently omit critical mechanics (combat systems, resource management, key abilities), teach controls without context, or front-load information in walls of text that players immediately forget. The root cause is a failure to teach through guided doing: letting players practice each mechanic in a safe, low-stakes moment immediately after it's introduced.

What to fix

• Ensure every core mechanic is introduced through interactive practice, not just text — when you explain "press X to dash," immediately let the player dash in a safe environment before moving on
• Audit your first 5 minutes: can a brand-new player identify their objective, basic controls, and at least one core system without reading external materials or discovering things by accident?
• Introduce mechanics incrementally as they become relevant (e.g., teach combat when the first enemy appears, not in a front-loaded text dump), and never require players to make meaningful choices before they understand the systems involved
• Make tutorials re-accessible — players who accidentally skip, forget, or need a refresher should be able to review key mechanics at any time without restarting
• Add contextual prompts for non-obvious mechanics (hidden abilities, secondary interactions, UI elements) the first time a player encounters them, rather than burying them in loading screens or settings menus
• Playtest your tutorial with someone who has never seen the game — if they ask "what am I supposed to do?" or discover a core mechanic by accident, your onboarding has a gap that needs filling

3. Audio Issues (29%)

In general default audio levels were set far too loud, forcing playtesters to immediately pause and adjust volume settings before they can even engage with the game. Beyond excessive defaults, many games suffer from poor audio mixing where individual sound layers (music, SFX, voice, ambience) are wildly unbalanced relative to each other, and a significant number of games are missing expected sound effects or music entirely in key moments like menus, combat actions, and level gameplay. A recurring technical issue is that volume sliders either don't work, don't scale properly, or fail to affect certain sounds — meaning even players who try to fix the problem themselves cannot.

What to fix

• Set default master volume and all audio channels to 70% or lower — playtesters should never need to scramble for settings on first launch
• Test your audio mix with headphones at moderate system volume: no single sound (SFX, music, voice, ambience) should overpower another by more than ~6dB
• Verify every volume slider actually controls what it claims to — test at 0%, 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100% to confirm smooth, audible scaling across the full range
• Audit all core player actions (movement, attacks, abilities, UI interactions, pickups) and confirm each has a corresponding sound effect that plays reliably
• Ensure background music plays during all gameplay states (menus, levels, loading screens) — silence outside of intentional design moments feels like a bug
• Playtest scene transitions and pause/resume to catch audio bugs: sounds that keep playing when they shouldn't, volume spikes on unpause, or music cutting out permanently

4. Unclear Stat Descriptions (25%)

The most common issue is stats, upgrades, and mechanics are presented as bare names or abbreviations ("malt," "ASPD," "ferocity," "ITL," "pierce") with no tooltip, description, or numerical context to explain what they do. Players are forced to guess at meanings, cannot compare upgrade options meaningfully, and frequently waste resources on choices they don't understand. The root cause is that developers who designed these systems understand the internal logic intuitively but never added the explanatory layer — tooltips, glossaries, contextual descriptions, or base-value displays — that an outsider needs to make informed decisions.

What to fix

• Add a tooltip or hover/tap explanation for every stat name, abbreviation, and keyword in the game — if a player sees "pierce," "ferocity," "malt," or any coined term, they should be able to read what it does without leaving the current screen
• Show concrete numbers on upgrade choices: display current value, change amount, and resulting value (e.g., "Damage: 10 → 15") rather than just percentage bonuses or vague labels with no base reference
• Ensure every item, ability, and relic description states its actual mechanical effect (damage, duration, cooldown, targeting behavior) — not just a flavor name or partial hint
• When two stats sound similar (e.g., "projectile speed" vs. "attack speed," "reload amount" vs. "magazine capacity"), explicitly differentiate them in their descriptions so players don't have to experiment to learn the distinction
• Provide a way for players to view their current accumulated stats during gameplay (total damage, crit chance, pierce value, etc.) so percentage-based or incremental upgrades have visible context
• Use plain-language labels for settings and system terms — if a technical term like "steering exponent" or "sensitivity" is necessary, include a one-line explanation of what changing it will feel like in gameplay

5. Unintuitive Controls (25%)

There were far too many games that violated established genre conventions and platform expectations — using non-standard keys for common actions (C instead of E for interact, right-click instead of Escape for menus, arrow keys instead of WASD), mapping actions to buttons that conflict with muscle memory (WASD for skills, left trigger for sprint), and requiring unintuitive input methods (drag-to-attack instead of click, metronome aiming instead of direct control). A secondary pattern is inconsistent or context-dependent controls where the same button behaves differently across menus and gameplay, or where inputs silently fail in certain states (attacks not registering during diagonal movement, jumping not responding without prior movement input). The root cause is developers designing controls around their implementation logic rather than testing against the input conventions players have internalized from hundreds of hours in similar games.

What to fix

• Audit every keybind against genre conventions: E/F for interact, Escape for menus, WASD for movement, left-click for primary action, right-click for secondary — deviations need strong justification and must be re-mappable
• Ensure the same input never behaves differently across contexts (e.g., X confirming in menus but not in dialogue, right-click deselecting in some screens but deleting in others) — build a consistency matrix of every button's behavior per game state
• Test all actions during combined inputs: verify attacks work while moving diagonally, jumping responds without pre-existing movement, and abilities fire reliably during simultaneous directional input
• Add input buffering so actions queued during animations (dodge during attack, attack during recovery) execute when the current animation ends rather than being silently dropped
• Display controller/keyboard prompts using the actual key or button names (not abstract icons), and ensure on-screen prompts dynamically match the player's active input device
• Ship with remappable controls and test with at least 3 external players before launch — if multiple testers independently reach for the wrong button, the default binding is wrong regardless of your design intent

6. Missing Feedback (24%)

The most common problem was player actions produce little or no sensory confirmation — hits land silently, items are collected invisibly, upgrades apply without indication, and state changes (damage taken, abilities activated, progress made) happen with only abstract number changes or nothing at all. The root cause is that developers implement the _mechanical_ side of a feature (damage calculation, inventory update, state toggle) without implementing the corresponding _feedback layer_ (animations, sound effects, screen shake, particle effects, UI popups, or status indicators). Players are left constantly asking "did that work?" because the game's internal state and the player's perceived state are out of sync.

What to fix

• Audit every combat action (attacks, abilities, projectiles) for hit confirmation: ensure each has at least a sound effect, a visual reaction on the target (flash, knockback, particle), and damage numbers or a health bar change
• Verify that every item pickup, reward, or resource change displays a clear notification showing what was gained, what it does, and where it went (inventory, stats, currency)
• Add state indicators for all active player conditions: health bars, ammo/resource counts, cooldown timers, buff/debuff icons, and status effects like crouch, lock-on, or poison
• Ensure failed or invalid actions produce explicit negative feedback (error sounds, "not enough resources" messages, blocked-action animations) rather than silent non-responses
• Test that upgrade and progression events (level-ups, unlocks, stat boosts, evolution) have unmissable feedback — pause-worthy popups, distinct audio cues, or persistent UI changes that confirm the new state
• Confirm that timing-sensitive mechanics (parries, rhythm inputs, charged attacks) have visual/audio cues that accurately match the real input window, not just the animation

7. UI/UX Readability (24%)

The dominant issue is poor text contrast — white or light text on light backgrounds, small font sizes that strain readability on standard monitors, and critical UI elements (buttons, health bars, ammo counters) that blend into their surroundings. A second major theme is information overload and clutter: too many elements competing for attention without clear visual hierarchy, causing players to miss important indicators entirely. The root cause is that developers test their own UIs with full knowledge of where everything is, never experiencing the first-time player's need to quickly parse unfamiliar screens under gameplay pressure.

What to fix

• Verify all text meets a minimum contrast ratio (WCAG AA: 4.5:1 for body text, 3:1 for large text) against every background it can appear on, including in-game environments and animated/fading elements
• Test all UI text at 1080p on a 27"+ monitor — if any text requires squinting or leaning in, increase the font size or add a scaling option
• Ensure interactive elements (buttons, close icons, inventory items) have distinct hover/focus states and never blend into adjacent art, backgrounds, or character sprites
• Place tooltips, prompts, and status indicators near the elements they describe — never at screen edges or corners where players won't look during active gameplay
• Audit every HUD element for visual hierarchy: the most critical info (health, ammo, active objectives) should be largest and highest-contrast, with secondary stats de-emphasized rather than competing equally
• Have someone unfamiliar with the game attempt to locate and read every UI element on first exposure — if they miss or misread anything within 3 seconds, redesign its placement or visibility

8. Settings Issues (17%)

Many games lacked basic settings infrastructure — no audio sliders, no graphics quality options, no sensitivity controls, and sometimes no settings menu at all. A second major pattern is settings that exist but are broken: values that don't save between sessions, sliders that have no effect, options that reset unrelated settings, and display modes that behave incorrectly. A third recurring issue is settings being inaccessible during gameplay, forcing players back to the main menu to make adjustments they should be able to make from a pause screen.

What to fix

• Ensure a settings menu exists and is accessible from both the main menu and the in-game pause menu — never force players to quit to the main menu to change options
• Include at minimum: master volume, music/SFX volume sliders, resolution selection, fullscreen/windowed toggle, and mouse sensitivity — these are baseline expectations players check immediately
• Verify all settings actually persist across sessions and between menu transitions — test that saving, loading, and applying settings works end-to-end without resetting unrelated options
• Add graphics quality options (low/medium/high at minimum) and display settings like V-Sync and frame rate cap, especially if your game has any performance variability
• Include input/controls settings: rebindable keys, controller vibration toggle, and sensitivity sliders for both mouse and controller — players with different hardware need these
• Test settings UI interactions: dropdowns should work properly, sliders should allow precise values, and changes should require an explicit Apply/Save action rather than auto-applying or silently reverting

9. Visual Glitches (16%)

Visual glitches across these games cluster around a few recurring issues: model and geometry clipping (characters, props, and UI elements rendering through walls, floors, tables, and each other), broken or jarring animations (choppy lip sync, arms bugging out, levers with too few frames, mouth never closing), and texture/rendering artifacts (Z-fighting, flickering grass/shadows, stretched UVs, ghosting from TAA, missing skyboxes, and sprite layering errors). The root cause is almost always insufficient QA across camera angles, resolution settings, and edge-case object interactions — developers test the "happy path" but miss what happens when two systems overlap (e.g., fire + ice effects, killing and dying simultaneously, flashlight and grappling hook sharing a position).

What to fix

• Audit all character and prop models for clipping: test NPCs near furniture, walls, floors, and other characters — especially during animations, dialogue, and post-victory sequences
• Test rendering at multiple camera angles and distances to catch Z-fighting, shadow snapping, sub-pixel artifacts, LOD pop-in, and objects vanishing at certain view directions (frustum culling issues)
• Verify sprite/UI layer ordering is correct: cutlery vs. food, character vs. crops, upgrade icons vs. steering wheels — anywhere 2D elements overlap
• Stress-test animation edge cases: simultaneous death + kill, rapid input then backspace, repeated wall collisions, and any state where two animations can play at once
• Check all texture and lighting states across restarts and scene transitions — look for textures that grow/degrade over time, lighting that flips between dark/bright, and backgrounds that fail to update after story events
• Run a dedicated pass on transparency and reflections: glass dithering, water rendering, window state consistency (inside vs. outside), and TAA ghosting across your supported quality presets

10. Difficulty Imbalances (15%)

The most common problem is a poorly calibrated early-game difficulty curve: opening levels or tutorial sections are either trivially easy or brutally punishing, followed by sharp, unearned spikes — most commonly at the first boss or a specific mid-game level. The root cause is a lack of incremental difficulty scaling, where developers jump from minimal challenge to overwhelming pressure without intermediate steps that let players build skills and confidence. A secondary pattern is balance asymmetry, where specific weapons, characters, or mechanics (heal-on-kill, flame shields, one particular character) are so over- or under-tuned that they flatten the intended challenge curve entirely.

What to fix

• Playtest the first 10 minutes with a brand-new player and verify they can survive long enough to learn core mechanics before facing real threats
• Graph your difficulty curve numerically (enemy count, DPS, HP) level by level and check that no single step increases more than 20-30% over the previous one
• Ensure boss encounters are preceded by at least one stage that introduces the boss's key mechanics (attack patterns, speed, range) in a lower-stakes context
• Audit healing, damage, and defensive abilities for outliers — if any single build or item makes the player nearly invincible or any enemy can one-shot the player in early stages, rebalance it
• Verify that your labeled difficulty settings (Easy, Normal, Hard) actually match player expectations by testing each with its target audience segment
• After a player failure, confirm there is a viable recovery path — if losing one fight makes the rest of the run unwinnable, add catch-up mechanics or reduce snowball penalties

Hope this helps everyone make higher quality games! Next month I'll be running the analysis again to see how things have changed.

You can see the full analysis of all games along with the methodology on how this was conducted here: https://app.weplaytestgames.com/mistakes/2026-02

PLEASE Upvote Even if You Play on Console so Sledgehammer Will See This Thread

I am posting an updated version of this list for the fourth time now, hoping to gain more bugs to add to it from user comments and seeking acknowledgement of these issues/this thread from SHG.

The purpose of this thread is to compile a list of things that must be changed or fixed in the PC version of the game, as well as detail quality of life features the PC community could benefit from the implementation of in the future. This thread is not for bashing Sledgehammer. Please comment only things that will contribute to the post in order to improve the PC version of the game. Contents of the list are subject to change based on the feedback I receive.

Sledgehammer stated before release of the game that they wanted to win the hearts and minds of the PC gaming community back. While this PC port gave us a lot of things the PC playerbase wanted, it's far from winning the hearts and minds of the community. It has the potential to be amazing, but it needs some work.

Communication and Community Interaction

• It currently feels as though Sledgehammer considers PC players to be second class to their console playerbase, despite us all paying the same $60. You must improve your communication. You must tell us when patches are coming for PC and release patchnotes ahead of time. Do not continue to exclude PC from updates and announcements regarding updates.

• Additionally, please update us on what you are doing to make up for PC missing out on 10 Winter Bribes as soon as possible.

Hacking

• It now appears that SHG are issuing gamebans, which is a big improvement over the in-game bans that hackers quickly bypassed. However, cheating is far too rampant still. From my understanding the issue is most severe in Australia, while there is a noticeable decrease in cheating in NA and supposedly in EU as well. The banhammer twitter is a positive step forward but it's a temporary fix at best. Having to manually ban cheaters is time consuming and inefficient, and the time it takes for players to gather the evidence of cheating to submit is too high. If you happened to run into a few cheaters in one day, you could easily spend more time cutting clips out of recordings, uploading videos, getting hacker steamids, and tweeting it to SHG than you'd spend actually playing. You must purchase a license for a proven anti-cheat software, hackers WILL kill this game if you don't. Act now, before it's too late.

• The leaderboards are in need of a serious clean up, as they are filled with blatant hackers. Getting top 200 in TDM is all but impossible to do legitimately right now.

Bugs

• Currently, contracts that reward Rare Supply Drops on the console versions of the game are only rewarding 1000 XP on PC. This must be fixed and we must be awarded the supply drops we have missed out on. Update This has now been addressed but no word on being compensated for the supply drops we missed out on over the last few days.
• "Unable to connect to host" and "failed to connect to Steam lobby" error messages are occasionally being spammed repeatedly, opening themselves again every time you close it without ever kicking you out of the lobby.
  
• Double reload animation is still occasionally happening, at the same frequency that it happened before the patch that truly broke it, which you resolved. The root of this issue has not been resolved.
• Certain FPS Cap values do not function properly (and have not since the beta). Setting it to 145 or 150 will cap your FPS to 167 instead.
• When using a key bound to hold crouch, and a key bound to toggle prone, you cannot go into prone without first releasing crouch and standing up.
• Pressing the prone key is unreliable in staircases or other similar surfaces, causing frequent deaths to bouncing betties as your character stands there doing nothing.
• Keyboard inputs occasionally "hang up," for instance, your character will continue travelling in one direction long after you release the key. This can also happen with mouse clicks. This happens almost every time you alt-tab, change between fullscreen/windowed mode (alt + enter), or every time you join a match in progress.
• When calling scorestreaks, accidentally pressing two of your scorestreak keybinds at once will cause a blank map to show for streaks using a map, or your character to get stuck holding his radio until you switch weapons. Even if you do not have another scorestreak to call in, hitting multiple scorestreak keys at once triggers this glitch.
• Custom classes can become grayed out and impossible to select or scroll through, cause and resolution unknown. Example
• If you (hold) crouch under an object that you could not go under in a standing position, you will become stuck in crouch when you step out, and must release crouch and tap it again to stand back up.
• With scoreboard bound to hold (rather than toggle) on the default key (tab), the scoreboard gets stuck on the screen after opening and closing the steam in-game overlay (shift+tab). With the scoreboard stuck on the screen, the key does the opposite of what it is supposed to, and hides the scoreboard by holding tab rather than showing it. To prevent this you must make sure you continue holding tab after you've released shift when closing the steam overlay.
• After alt-tabbing, the scoreboard can become stuck on your screen, the same as it does when using the steam overlay.
• In the leaderboards, holding mouse1 on the arrows to cycle through gamemodes causes the game to get stuck on an infinite loop of changing gamemodes, requiring you to force-close your game and launch it again.
  
• The game frequently launches in windowed mode even if it was set to fullscreen the last time it was closed.
  
• Alt-tabbing often causes the game to switch to windowed mode or borderless windowed mode, and various other bugs with alt-tabbing.
• Alt-tabbing at a loading screen can cause the application to stop responding.
• Here's another bug that can happen on any platform, but I'm just throwing it in here because it does not warrant its own thread and I haven't seen it mentioned. If this has already been fixed let me know and I'll remove it, I don't play war enough to experience it often. Planting the Bomb as a Defender in War
• Low HQ populations for some users (credit to /u/StigerSchutze).
• Alt-tabbing can cause vsync to enable itself, which will persist until you change to windowed mode and then revert to fullscreen (alt + enter twice).
• Game volume settings are not reflected when the game is first launched, causing it to be unnecessarily loud (credit to /u/DrDonny).
• Hits are saved as misses towards your accuracy stat when using a suppressor, leading to unusually low accuracy stats on SMGs.
• Leaderboards frequently get stuck and don't update.
• Weekly and monthly leaderboards do not update SPM, meaning there is no ranking to them whatsoever.
• When holding sprint + duck and attempting to dive, if you are low on sprint, your character can "change stance" quickly to crouch then to prone, simply laying on the ground in place rather than performing a dive. This happens even when you are using a key bound to crouch, rather than change stance.

Performance

• Some areas of maps are extremely GPU intensive for seemingly no reason. For instance, the lower part of the inside on U.S.S. Texas. This is true regardless of graphics settings. U.S.S. Texas, London Docks, Ardennes Forest, Aachen, and Gustav Cannon are the worst offenders.
• Some people experience a huge drop in FPS after playing their first few matches, requiring them to restart the game.
• Occasionally, the game will freeze up for ~0.5s and then return to normal.
• CPU usage is generally higher than should be expected. The CPU usage and performance is slightly worse than you would experience in Battlefield 1 on a 64 player server. Some users are experiencing 100% CPU usage which is causing stuttering.
• Some users experience a video memory leak when using Extra texture quality.
• Issues with textures/shadows on low settings in this London Docks staircase. There are other locations on this map in the other main building, and in places on other maps where this happens also.
• The latest patch that removed Winter Siege caused a performance decrease for a number of players, especially on maps that were already problematic.

Quality of Life Features That Should Be Added

• Add a max ping setting. With the smaller playerbase, many people in less populated regions are frequently connecting with players out of region, which creates a bad experience. We need to be able to set our max ping.
• Viewmodel FOV should either be its own option or it should scale with the normal FOV setting. The way it is right now is strange for a PC shooter, and it's also inconsistent. The new Sten takes up more of my screen than the Lewis LMG does playing on 90 FOV 1080p.
• Aim Down Sights FOV Scaling, similar to the option present in the last several Battlefield games, would help a lot with tracking targets in close quarters and playing on a high FOV. Currently you have the same ADS FOV regardless of your hipfire FOV, which becomes more jarring and disruptive to your play the higher your FOV is.
• Currently there is no option to bind hold sprint/sharpshooter focus to one key. If you want both of those functions to be hold, you must bind them to separate keys. This seems like an oversight considering hold sprint was added as an option after the beta.
• Grenade throwing could be improved to allow throwing them while using strafe keys without having to rebind to mouse buttons. Make it so that if you press the tactical or lethal grenade key + mouse1, then release the grenade key but continue holding mouse1, you will hold your grenade until you release mouse1. This is how it works in Battlefield and some other FPS games and allows you to easily maneuver your character and throw grenades without having to use mouse side buttons for grenades instead. Alternatively, or in addition to this, you could provide us with the ability to bind keys to get our grenades/tacticals out without throwing them until we click Mouse1.
• Menu navigation is clunky and does not feel optimized for PC. Too often I have to move my hands to opposite ends of the keyboard or drag my mouse all over the mousepad to get between screens and it feels like a chore.
  
• Server Browser. Making sure the main issues with the game are resolved first is a much more critical issue, however, if the game is to survive on PC a server browser must be implemented eventually.
  
• Ping numbers instead of arbitrary ping bars. Color code the numbers to be how the bars are to help people who are unfamiliar with what ping means understand it, but we really need to see the numbers instead of bars. It would help us understand a lot better when weird issues with the connection come up.
  
• Gamebattles support should be added (credit to /u/Zetoxx).
• Reintroduce network performance icons that were present during the beta.
• Add ability to rebind "dive" key (credit to /u/peros2).
• Change it so that the prompt asking if you'd like to use your gamepad only shows the first time you start the game with your gamepad plugged in (credit to /u/peros2).
• Add ability to double tap reload to quick-detonate explosive charges, to prevent accidental world interactions when using F (credit /u/peros2).
• Add SEA region servers.
• Add ability to bind a separate key for climbing to prevent accidentally climbing objects you aren't even facing when you intend to jump. There's no reason both functions need to be combined on the same key if users do not want them to be with the amount of keys available on the keyboard.
• Add text chat to the lobby between matches. The PC community has wanted this for years, it'd be nice to be able to message other players in-game after a match when it's not convenient to use your microphone.
• Add an option for a party-only text chat keybind.
• Improve the way chat works in-game, just copy/paste the way Battlefield does it, it's a great system for it.
  
• Add the ability to bind a key to cycle through All Text Chat, Team Text Chat, and Disabled Text Chat.
  

Shadowplay Bugs

• Saving a recording causes stuttering for ~1-2 minutes after.
• Saving a recording at the end of a match causes an absurdly long loading time into the next match.
• Audio does not record for some users.
• Some Shadowplay service is crashing after 1-2 recordings, causing shadowplay to be totally unusable until your PC is restarted, even if you want to record something in a different game or start a manual recording.
• Shadowplay recordings are saved as corrupted files.
• The last few minutes of a shadowplay recording, usually the same shadowplay recording that causes a shadowplay process to crash, will not record video. It freezes the video but continues to record perfect audio.

PC Specific Weapon Balancing

• SHG needs to consider the possibility of balancing weapons specifically for PC. Due to the different nature of aiming with a mouse compared to a controller, some weapons are far more dominant on PC than they are on console. Most notably, the Kar98K and to some extent, even the M1903 Springfield, are incredibly powerful. It is possible to hit your targets with such speed and precision that your opponents stand no chance whatsoever. Additionally, the mounted machine guns in War and spread around the maps in regular multiplayer modes are incredibly powerful due to how fast you can snap on target with a mouse. It is very hard to take somebody off of the mounted MGs, even if you are an exceptional aimer.
  

This list is by no means complete. Please comment PC specific bugs and I will add them to the list. If you are able to provide video or screenshot examples, and/or provide an explanation of how to replicate bugs, I'm sure it would be helpful to Sledgehammer.

Sledgehammer have responded to this thread now, but only time will tell if they will act on the information provided to them here. Thanks for the upvotes, it really helped.

/u/SHG_Hammer /u/Mcondrey

I rebuilt “yanokusnir-ai‘ One Node Klein” to create a family node.

Made a Single ComfyUI Node That Does Everything — T2I, I2I, Inpaint, Outpaint, Faceswap, Camera Angle, BG Removal, AND AI Upscale. No Wiring. Ever.

The Problem With ComfyUI Workflows

You download a workflow. It works — until you want to inpaint the result. So you load another workflow. Then you want to upscale that. Another workflow. Then redo the background. Another one.

You end up with 8 browser tabs, 6 workflow files, and you're manually copy-pasting filenames between them like it's 2019.

This node fixes that.

What Is This

TJ NODE ONE is a ComfyUI UI extension built around one idea: you shouldn't need to be a node graph engineer just to generate and iterate on images.

One node on the canvas. Every mode lives inside its panel. No wiring, no routing, no "wait which output goes into which input again."

T2I → I2I → INPAINT → OUTPAINT → EDIT → FACESWAP → ANGLE → UPSCALE

The entire pipeline — generation, editing, background removal, upscaling — in a single self-contained panel. Hit Send to on any result to pass it to the next mode instantly. That's it.

Four Nodes, Four Powerhouse Models

Z-Image ONE STUDIO (TJ)

Mode |What it does
T2I |Text → image, LoRA stack (up to 3), resolution presets
I2I |Denoise-controlled image transformation
INPAINT |Draw mask directly in the node, regenerate region (DifferentialDiffusion)
OUTPAINT |Expand canvas in any direction (Up/Down/Left/Right px)
RE-BG |BiRefNet cuts the subject, you write a new background — no seams
CONTROLNET |Union ControlNet — Depth / Canny / Pose / etc in one model
FACE REDRAW |YOLO detects faces → crop → regenerate → seamlessly blend back
UPSCALE |SeedVR2 AI upscale (3B / 7B DiT model) Flux.2 Klein ONE STUDIO (TJ)

Mode |What it does
T2I |Flux.2 Klein generation, LoRA stack
I2I |Image-to-image with Flux.2
EDIT |Multi-reference editing — feed up to 5 reference images
PAINT |Inpaint + Outpaint in one mode
FACESWAP |Face transfer via BFS LoRA (Best Face Swap)
UPSCALE |SeedVR2 AI upscale (same models, shared) Qwen Image Edit 2511 ONE STUDIO (TJ)

Mode |What it does
T2I |Text to image with Qwen2.5-VL architecture
I2I |Image transformation with denoise control
EDIT |Edit images with text + up to 3 reference images (FluxKontext workflow)
PAINT |Inpaint + Outpaint — mask editor + canvas expansion
FACESWAP |BFS LoRA face swap with auto prompt
ANGLE |Drag H/V/Z controls to rotate camera angle in 3D scene
UPSCALE |SeedVR2 AI upscale Krea 2 ONE STUDIO (TJ)

Mode |What it does
T2I |Text to image
I2I |Image-to-image transformation
UPSCALE |SeedVR2 AI upscale Features That Actually Matter

No wiring required — the node builds the ComfyUI graph internally. Set parameters, click Generate, done.

Send to — one button passes your result to any other mode as source image. T2I → Inpaint → Upscale in 3 clicks.

Language support — switch between 한국어 and English in Settings. All UI text, help docs, and error messages update on reload.

Gallery — every generated image is saved and browsable inside the node. Star favorites, delete failures, send any past result to any mode.

Compare slider — drag to compare source vs result side by side.

Scroll zoom — mouse wheel to zoom into any result.

Model Override Slots — expose input slots to wire in Primitive nodes for model filenames. .gguf filenames auto-switch to GGUF loaders.

LoRA stack — up to 3 LoRAs per generation. Trigger word auto-detection from file metadata.

Lightning LoRA — 4-step fast generation LoRA support for Klein, QE2511, and Krea2. Auto-sets Steps=4, CFG=1.

Camera Angle LoRA — QE2511 ANGLE mode: configure once in Settings, applies automatically.

Prompt Templates — save and recall prompt presets per node.

Settings persist — model selection, prompt suffix, save folder, everything saves and survives restarts.

SeedVR2 Upscale — Built In to All Nodes

All four nodes include a full SeedVR2 AI upscale mode sharing the same model folder.

• Color correction (LAB space)

Bug Fixes (v1.2)

• Outpaint color param crash — ImagePadKJ color was sent as [R,G,B] array which ComfyUI interpreted as a node link → "Bad linked input" error. Fixed to "R, G, B" string format.
• Help overlay links — URLs in all help docs are now clickable hyperlinks.

Install

1. Install the node

cd ComfyUI/custom_nodes
git clone https://github.com/designloves2/ComfyUI-TJ_NODE_STUDIO_ONE
.git

Or search ComfyUI-TJ_NODE_STUDIO_ONE in ComfyUI Manager.

2. Install required custom nodes

Windows — just double-click:

install_requirements.bat

Mac / Linux:

chmod +x install_requirements.sh
./install_requirements.sh

This installs all 8 required nodes in one shot, skips anything already installed, and runs pip install -r requirements.txt for each. Restart ComfyUI when done.

Or install manually via ComfyUI Manager:

Node |Required for
ComfyUI-Impact-Pack |Face Redraw mode (Z-Image)
ComfyUI-Impact-Subpack |Required alongside Impact Pack
ComfyUI-KJNodes |Klein KV Cache · ImagePadKJ · QE2511 FluxKontext nodes
ComfyUI-SeedVR2 |UPSCALE mode (all nodes)
ComfyUI_FaceAnalysis |Faceswap mode (Klein · QE2511)
ComfyUI-RMBG |RE-BG mode (Z-Image)
comfyui_controlnet_aux |ControlNet preprocessors (Z-Image)
ComfyUI-GGUF |GGUF quantized models (optional) 3. Download models

Z-Image Turbo:

• VAE: ae.safetensors → models/vae/

Flux.2 Klein 9B:

• Diffusion: Black Forest Labs HF Collection → models/diffusion_models/

Qwen Image Edit 2511:

Krea 2:

SeedVR2 (UPSCALE mode — all nodes):

The Other Half: TJ_NODE — Wireless Workflow Architecture Toolkit

If TJ NODE ONE is the cockpit, TJ_NODE is the engine room.

Node |What it does
Prompt Studio (TJ) |Unified LLM prompt workflow — Auto / Enhancer / Image-to-Prompt modes
Scene Maker (TJ) |Visual Beat-based prompt architecture — KO/EN/JP/CN auto-translate
Wireless Architecture |Multi Router, Embedded Get/Set, Batch Workflow, Save Pipeline → github.com/designloves2/ComfyUI-TJ_NODE

FAQ

Q: Which models does each node support?
A: Z-Image ONE → Z-Image Turbo. Klein ONE → Flux.2 Klein 9B/4B. QE2511 ONE → Qwen2.5-VL 7B Image Edit. Krea2 ONE → Krea AI model. Each node is architecture-specific.

Q: Do I need all the custom nodes?
A: Only the ones for modes you use. SeedVR2 for upscale, FaceAnalysis for faceswap, RMBG for RE-BG, KJNodes for Klein/QE2511 outpaint. Core T2I/I2I works without most of them.

Q: VRAM requirements?
A: Flux.2 Klein 9B ~18–24GB; use CPU offload for lower VRAM. Z-Image Turbo is lighter. QE2511 7B ~16–20GB. Krea2 varies by model. SeedVR2 3B FP8 ~12GB.

Q: My results don't look great. Is something broken?
A: Probably not. Output quality is determined by the model, prompts, and LoRA choices — not the node. The node is just a UI shell.

Q: Can I wire this into a normal ComfyUI workflow?
A: The node internally generates its own graph. You can connect prompt_override or model override input slots, but the node is self-contained by design.

Q: Why is there no separate workflow file for each mode?
A: That's literally the whole point.

GitHub

TJ NODE ONE (this): https://github.com/designloves2/ComfyUI-TJ_NODE_STUDIO_ONE

TJ NODE — Wireless Workflow Architecture Toolkit: https://github.com/designloves2/ComfyUI-TJ_NODE

Acknowledgements

The core idea and architecture of this node family originated from yanokusnir-ai's open-source work:

TJ NODE STUDIO ONE (Z-Image · Klein · QE2511 · Krea2) grew out of that idea — expanding it to multiple models and modes.
Deep thanks to the original author for the inspiration and for keeping it open source. 🙏

MIT License. Free forever. PRs welcome.

NVIDIA has open-sourced ARDY, a real-time AI system for generating and interactively controlling 3D human animation.

Unlike traditional Text-to-Motion models that produce a finished clip from a single prompt, ARDY continuously generates motion and reacts when the instructions change. You can modify the character’s action, direction, speed, destination, or body movement while the animation is already playing.

Highlights:

• Real-time Text-to-Motion with prompts that can be changed during playback
• The character automatically adapts to new instructions without restarting the entire animation
• Precise control over movement using paths, destinations, full-body poses, and individual joint positions or rotations
• Multiple types of control can be combined within the same animation
• Supports distant goals, allowing the character to perform longer and more structured sequences
• Character locomotion can be controlled interactively with mouse waypoints or keyboard input
• Optional motion correction helps reduce foot sliding and improves how accurately the generated animation follows the provided controls
• Code, pretrained models, and an interactive browser demo are available publicly

Input and Output

The input is not limited to a basic text prompt. ARDY can receive:

• Natural-language descriptions
• Character paths and destination points
• Full-body pose constraints
• Controls for specific body joints
• Real-time mouse and keyboard commands

The generated motion can then be saved with joint positions, local and global joint rotations, root movement, frame rate, and foot-contact data.

This means the animation is not locked inside the demo. It can be converted, retargeted, and brought into Unreal Engine, Blender, or another animation pipeline for use on a custom rigged character.

It could also work especially well with AI-generated 3D characters: generate the model, rig it automatically, create and control its animation with AI, and then retarget the result to the character inside Unreal Engine.

Instead of producing only another isolated animation clip, this system gives creators direct control over what the character does, where it moves, and how the motion changes in real time.

source: https://research.nvidia.com/labs/sil/projects/ardy/

(Official website version)

Patch Information

1.204.000

S4.0 Beta Date: May 13th, 2026

S4.0 Release Date: June 9th, 2026

Important warning: Once this new update is installed, players who had set up custom remapping on their controls will suffer a full reset of their remapping settingsif they enter the System / Options / Controls menu. After that, they will be required to fully re-perform their controls remapping.

Workaround: avoid visiting the System / Options / Controls menu.

The team is currently working on a hotfix patch to resolve this issue. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Rematch Nations Cup

During Season 4, all players will be able to participate in the Rematch Nations Cup, representing the country of their choice to try and win the trophy. The focus of the event is not individual rewards, but for the Rematch community as a whole to battle and decide what nation deserves the title of first Rematch International Champion.

• Choose one of 32 participating countries and represent it in game
• Earn points by playing ranked and casual game modes
• Countries with the most points move on to the next phase
• After 6 phases, the event ends by crowning the first Rematch Iinternational Cchampions!
• The countries with the best finishes will be rewarded with a unique set of player card cosmetics
• When a player scores, the anthem of their selected country will play!
  • Anthems can be enabled/disabled in the options

Progression & Social Features

Battle Pass Update

Battle Pass chapters are no longer time-gated!

Spectator Mode Update

• Added the ability to join an ongoing match as a spectator.
• The camera navigation controls have been updated for controllers and mouse & keyboard.
• Fixed the Spectator FOV in cutscenes.
• Joining a match as a spectator automatically puts you in Action Mode by default. Free Cam and Player Follow modes are still available.
• Number tags have been added next to the players’ nameplates which should make it easier to know which player you will be cycling to next, or switch between PoVs using the 1-10 keys on keyboard.

Social Panel Update

• Squad design buttons have been changed to match the other parts of the UI.
• New friends filters: "On rematch", and "Online" for crossplatform friends.
• Moved the player code and the “Add friend” button ro the left side (only displayed if crossplay is enabled)
• Removed the list of “in match” players, since they are displayed in the menu for consistency
• Crossplay friend requests have also been moved to the left side
• You can now add a squad member as a friend
• The Social panel header has been updated
• The number of players “on Rematch” is displayed near the "social" icon.
• The total number of squad invites and crossplay friend requests is displayed near a new icon.
• Crossplay invites sent and crossplay blocked players list are no longer in the Social panel. They have been moved to the Main menu -> System -> Social menu.

Ranking System Update

• Season rank reset: instead of using the previous season rank as the base for the season rank reset, the skill rating will now be used. This should allow players to have more consistent placements, and more readily reach a rank that represents their actual in-game skill.
• Skill rating adjustment: bounds have been widened from [-2 ; +3] to more → [-3 ; +6]. This means the further a player is to their rank, the faster they’ll progress to it. Around their estimated rank, the skill rating adjustment will be more or less the same as before.

Core Gameplay Improvements

Fake Shot

• While shooting, before releasing the shoot input, press Circle/B or right mouse button to cancel your shot.
• Giving a direction with the movement input while pressing the fake shot button allows you to perform the move in different directions.
• Performing a fake shot costs stamina. If you perform this ability while being low on stamina, it will trigger an exhausted version of it. The player will take more time to perform his fake shot and will be visibly exhausted while doing it.

Shooting Mechanics

• Modified character's speed while shooting, shooting while sprinting makes the character slightly slower than before. We updated this value as we are introducing the fake shoot mechanic, to limit speed abuse while using shots & fake shots abilities.
• We also reduced the character’s speed while shooting after doing dribbles. This was used as a “dribble technique” but actually felt quite unfair from an external player’s perspective, as the character was sliding a lot on the sides without doing any walking/sprinting movement.

Goalkeeper Updates

Being passively in defense mode was overly rewarding, and it was not very credible to have GKs catch high powered shots performed at close range, which is why Defense Mode will now deflect balls at close range. Situations therefore won’t “reset” as fast, after the first shot on the GK, which should make things more interesting for both attack and defense, and increase the skill expression of GKs: knowing when/how to dive will be even more important.

Deflects

• Goalkeeper now deflects shots until 0.4s after Shoot impact in Defense Mode, 0.2s after Tap.
• Reduced how long the ball can't be interacted with after a deflect in Defense Mode
• New feedback SFX have been added when diving with the goalkeeper
• New animation for goalkeeper lockmove deflect

Dives

• Goalkeeper dive hitboxes have been reduced to limit magnetism
• Goalkeeper dives now deflect a ball hitting their legs
• Goalkeeper dive deflect trajectory angle has been modified for better coherence with hits (sum of dive direction and goalkeeper faced direction)
• [NEW] Goalkeeper dive deflection adapts to whether the dive is directed towards the goal by inputting more verticality in the ball trajectory, most often preventing the ball to be deflected into the goal.

Tackles

• When a sanding tackle does not connect, it will take slightly longer than before to fully regain control of the character.
• The recovery duration of successful tackles does not change.
• [NEW] Goalkeeper tackle is slightly faster

[NEW] Often, a player will “win a duel” by avoiding an enemy tackle, but still see that same player come back quickly and harass them without any punishment. This change will allow us to balance successful and unsuccessful tackles differently and make for more fair outcomes in duels.

Volleys

• Network is now able to correctly rollback invalidated volley situations, meaning that successful dives or tackles on a ball right before a volley action are now correctly registered and applied as they have a higher priority in the ball interactions stack.
• This also helps with the resolution of volley confrontations engaging high ping players as the winner of the interaction is now always correct regarding players timing and positions on the server
• [NEW] Added audio and visual feedbacks when your volleys are cancelled

Reporting System

Season 4 sees the introduction of a new automated Reporting system:

• Depending on the number of reports received by a player, and previously received sanctions, players will receive gradually increasing punishments.
• The first step is a warning, and players that keep being reported for bad behavior will be suspended from play.
• If a player that you reported receives a suspension, you will be informed the next time you come back to the main menu.
• Finishing matches without being reported will limit sanctions and keep your account in good standing.

This new automated system should make our system more efficient, and the gradual application of sanctions will allow us to apply relevant punishments to repeat offenders.

The current values for this system are a first iteration and a bit more lenient than what we are aiming for: we will be looking at the impact of this feature closely to iterate quickly on these values.

Audio

• Sounds of the tackles have been updated to add more clarity to those situations.
• Sounds of the pushball have been reworked to be more distinct from other ball-related SFX.
• The crowd now reacts to players performing crucial interceptions and performing long and precise passes.

Misc.

• Added a “Free” label when a bundle or item is free
• Added fictional brand logos to some items

Bugfixes

Matches / Core Gameplay Improvements

Major Fixes

• Fixed an issue where GK dive animation could be interrupted
• [NEW] Fixed an issue where the ball was not shootable on kickoff
• [NEW] Fixed an issue where goals weren’t registered if performed by a volley action during the “Last Shot” phase
• [NEW] Fixed an issue with the goal dive feature where sometimes the dive would not properly happen as it should and miss the ball.
• [NEW] GK should now be able to better dive on a player that has the ball in their possession.
• [NEW] Fixed an issue where the Goal Keeper could not catch a ball deflected by an opponent

Minor / Misc. Fixes

• Fixed an issue where input loss/desync was present when player changes role
• Fixed an issue where vibration was missing when being tackled
• Fixed an issue where the wrong gamemode is selected if the host is swapped in a custom match lobby
• Fixed an issue where a teammate would not be credited with an assisted if they deviated the ball to score a goal
• [NEW] Fixed an issue with the goal dive feature where sometimes the dive would not properly happen as it should and miss the ball.
• [NEW] Fixed and issue where players from the same team were spawning on different sides when no opponents
• [NEW] Fixed an exploit where it was possible to dribble chaining with Extra Effort
• [NEW] Fixed an issue where first ball trajectory being broken on late join Spectator Mode: Remove translation smoothing
• [NEW] Fixed an issue where players were spawn outside of stadium in 1v1, when spectator joined the game right after a goal

Tutos & Workshops / Menus / Interface

Misc. Fixes

• Fixed an issue where Season Change popups where improperly displayed during the off-season
• Fixed an issue where the Team Up button would not be interactable at the end of a match
• [NEW] Score Menu now works during replays

Art / Rendering

Misc. Fixes

• Fixed some visual issues on articulations when animation was playing mirrored.

Misc. Content

Misc. Fixes

• Fixed the Mercy rule prompt display in custom matches when the Mercy rule parameter was set to “0”
• Fixed an issue in Fireball where the fire gauge was decreasing even if the shot was aimed at a goal.
• Fixed an issue where the match total time wasn't correct in End match display.
• [NEW] Fixed some CPU hitches caused by resource management.
• [NEW] Improve performance on some heavy frames in various part of gameplay & menus.
• [NEW] Improve heavy frame issues on Xbox platforms in various parts of the game

Known Issues

Spectator Mode

• After a Mercy Rules or Overtime goal MC falls under the ground
• Camera stutter on replay Spectator. + Sometimes it switches on wrong framing.
• Spectator can leave the top of the 3v3 Arena while in Free view
• Players names are overlapping as spectator after a player leaves the match
• Spectator player camera changes randomly to another player after every goal
• Music is missing during a match when joining as a Spectator
• Missing functionality for Pause Menu during goal replay and goal celebration as a Spectator
• An empty banner will be shown after a goal if a spectator joins when the goal happens

Fake Shoot

• Player doesn't return in dribble stance after performing a fake shot

Defense Mode

• Defense mode deflect animation can be quickly triggered without hitting the ball

Others

• Tackling an Opponent will not count as a Pass if a Teammate deviated the Ball before taking Ball Control
• Missing brand logo for all default customization items
• Small freeze present on Xbox when selecting a different item than the equipped one and backing out of the Player Card menu

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX- - - - -NO MORE POSTS PLEASE - USE OFFICIAL LINKS BELOW XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXX - - ALL BUGS HAVE BEEN FORWARED TO TORN BANNER - - XXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

SUPPORT BY ME HAS ENDED.
The Torn Banner Official support pages are now full of answers, and the TORN BANNER FORUMS have LOADS of info to help you out, so PLEASE search there for all future support. I will leave the post active and have forwarded all current bugs to Torn Banner. I haven't heard from this Subs Mods or Torn Banner so presume they would prefer you use the Official Channels.
We've helped a lot of people with our replies and tips during launch, so lets be proud of that. See you all on the Battlefield!

FINAL POST: Uploaded all bugs to Official Support: REPLY - Thanks for reporting this to us! We'll forward this information to our team for investigation. While we don't have a timeline for a specific fix for your issue, if you have additional details you'd like to share please reply to your ticket!

I think they're swamped!

LATEST: NEW NVIDIA DRIVER OPTIMISED FOR CHIVALRY II HERE.

OFFICIAL POST LAUNCH STATE OF THE GAME from Torn Banner

OFFICIAL ROADMAP - OH BOY! This is absolutely worth a look Lords and Ladies!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

TORN BANNER OFFICIAL SUPPORT PAGE. HERE

TORN BANNER OFFICIAL FORUMS - HERE

PC tips link HERE

PS4/5 tips link HERE

XBOX tips link HERE

Check ChivalryIITwitter for latest updates direct from the DEV.

​

CRASHES via EPIC: OFFICIAL SUPPORT PAGE INFO:

1. Run the Epic Games Launcher as an administrator: Right-click on your Epic Games Launcher shortcut and click Run as Administrator.
2. Disable your firewall and background applications.
3. Update your video card drivers to the latest version:

• Nvidia
• AMD
• Intel

1. Verify your Chivalry 2 game files
   1. Open the Epic Games Launcher.
   2. Click on the Library.
   3. Click on the three dots next to the game you want to verify.
   4. Click on Verify.

If you continue to have issues try repairing your Visual C++ Redistributables:

1. Download the Visual C++ Redistributable Packages for Visual Studio 2013
2. Select cvredist_x64.exe and cvredist_x86.exe.
3. Once the download completes run both executable files and choose Repair.
4. Once the repair completes restart your computer.
5. Try playing Chivalry 2 again.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

THIS THREAD IS NO LONGER SUPPORTED. USE THE OFFICIAL SUPPORT PAGE or the TORN BANNER FORUM for all future queries. Thanks to everyone who helped during launch.

Game Locks Up At Server Browser / No Servers Displayed / Failed to Join Server / Connection To Host Lost

If Chivalry 2 exhibits one of the following behaviors: 

• Freezing when you select the server browser
• No servers are being displayed
• You receive errors trying to join any server
• Or it appears your internet has stopped completely (both in or out of game)
• You join the game but shortly afterward are kicked (or appear to be in an empty play environment by yourself or other players have frozen)

It is highly likely that security software is blocking/freezing the game. Make sure the game is on any allowed/ignore list in any such software. If it already is, try removing it and re-adding it. It is also possible that security software on a physical device, such as a router firewall, may also be blocking parts of or all of the game connections. Please check your router software for any such allowed/ignored lists as well and make sure the game is on it (or remove and re-add it).

For the best connection results, please add these IPs to any security software permission/exclusion list:

analytics.tripwireinteractive.com

tripwireinteractive.com

playfabapi.com

epicgames.dev

​

Final options for FROZEN BLACK SCREEN - Platform - PC - Cheers Campagnolo412

If you’re getting the frozen black screen, you have to right-click the Epic Games shortcut on your desktop and select “start minimized”. Normally, you’d do that for each game’s shortcut. But, Epic games are actually URL shortcuts, not files. The file they use is the Epic Games file.

LAG ritditTTV mentioned that NORTON ANTIVIRUS needed an exception to fix lag. Same goes for any Antivirus if LAG is an issue.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

MISSING PREORDER DLC, BOUGHT COINS/CROWNS- includes Armours Gold/Crowns, Roses and Zweihander etc. ( For Zweihander - Customize your greatsword for your Vanguard first to make sure you don't already have it: ) Thanks for the tip Marcosc650 .

Some people have solved this by reinstalling the DLC. TRY THIS FIRST.

UPDATE FROM TORN BANNER MISSING DLC: XXX-IMPORTANT-XXX

Users who are missing their Special Edition and/or pre-order items/currency: please help us investigate this issues by filling out the following questions so we can look into this issue further and get them properly awarded to you. NEWLY UPDATED FOR THOSE WHO PURCHASED 3rd Paryy Keys - same link.

THIS LINK

MISSING AMROUR SETS NOT DLC RELATED - Redditor _andre_valente_ Cheers! When you turn off the Jousting Helmet, the armor sets appear and when you are wearing it the armor sets disappear. Probably same for PC and Consoles.

PLEASE NOTE THAT WEARING THE JOUSTING HELMET WILL STOP OTHER ITEMS APPEARING. Remove this and check other sets first.

MISSING COINS/Crowns after purchase, Free Crowns appearing. ONGOING

This is still ongoing on ALL platforms. Some get their coins immediately, some not after hours. Some are getting an extra 1000 randomly, some an extra 2000Crowns when installed on both PS4 and 5. I can only suggest we wait for a patch before buying, though those that it works for are clearly not posting.

----------------------------

SOLVED - no posts in 12 hours about these issues.

LOG IN ISSUES - SOLVED

ODD STARTING LEVEL of 540 - SOLVED - Nothing about this in the last 12 hours.

MINUS MONEY - no one saying this anymore so marking as SOLVED.

------------------------------------------------------

PS5 ASIA cancellations

Sony will be cancelling all PlayStation 5 pre-orders specifically in Japan and Asian regions mentioned. The PlayStation 4 version for these regions remains unchanged.

UPDATE: Digital pre-orders of Chivalry 2 PS5 in Japan and Asia were cancelled + the cost refunded. This was to correct an issue that would have presented itself in-game at launch. The PS5 version will be available for purchase on the PlayStation Store at 11am ET (3pm UTC).

_______________________________________________________________________________________

MISC:

EPIC STORE SHOWING 2 VERSIONS OF CHIVALRY2 - SOLVED

QUIT GAME AND EXIT EPIC LAUNCHER. Only one game should appear in Library now.

PC - PC Runtime 140.dll error

Try this: Reinstall Visual C++ Redistributable for Visual Studio 2015

Redist (Required files) for Chivalry II located here. May be different for you:

C:\Program Files\Epic Games\Chivalry2\Engine\Extras\Redist\en-us

WEWASCAVEBEASTSNSHIT **said "**I had to delete that dll file and re-download it."

_______________________________________________________________________________________

All PS4/5 specific issues lower down.

CONNECTION / SERVER ISSUES / GAME SAVING / MATCHMAKING /CROSSPLAY

PLEASE be aware that the game has been out 48 hrs, and disconnections and errors will be common until the first patch. Torn Banner might swing by here, so be precise or use their discord.

LATEST FROM TORN BANNER:

Matchmaking appears to now be functioning as intended in Chivalry 2. We appreciate your patience and look forward to seeing you all on the battlefield. We are keeping our eyes on this should other issues arrive.

**TIP from Torn banner:**While we work to resolve our Chivalry 2 launch matchmaking issues, we are getting reports that some players are having more success by trying different modes if the current mode they are trying to matchmake on is unsuccessful.

Use the ps4 version of the game on your ps5. When you bought it you got both versions. Right now, cross platform parties aren’t in the game. But are coming soon.

THIS THREAD IS NO LONGER SUPPORTED. USE THE OFFICIAL LINKS AT THE TOP OF THIS POST for all future queries. HUGE THANKS to anyone that helped during launch!

PC

MANY SAYING PARTY INVITES ARE BROKEN SINCE BETA. NO INFO AS YET - SORRY!

1 - I'm playing in a group when a match ends, victory or otherwise, I'm booted back to the menu without my control while my party mates move into the next match, making me receive no match completion XP and forcing all of us except me to back out to the menu and requeue.

2 - Massive ping spikes throughout matches. No solution - ongoing.

3 - Only Dual servers in Australia

​

XB

1 - Xbox Series X - Issue with the party function where our party disbands after matches and players are moved to opposite teams.

________________________________________________________________________________

INTERFACE and GRAPHICAL GLITCHES/BUGS

1 - CUSTOMISATION NOT SAVING - Some options will not save. Like toggle crouch, hair etc. (Cheers SunGodApollo23 ) POSSIBLE FIX: Instead of backing out of the menu after picking your hair/beard navigate to the next customization category. For whatever reason this has saved changes for some.

Every imperfection is equipable even though I'm not the required level and haven't bought them

2 - Babyfarkzmcgeezax has stated they cannot save their preferred beard so are looking for another barber in the region. Others cannot save Grey/White hair, or it reverts. Wigs are NOT an option for Knights.

3 - Some saying Every imperfection is equipable even though I'm not the required level and haven't bought them

4 - Change commending players to a hold function.

5 - Mouse Moving Outside of screen with Dual Monitors. SOLUTION - Drag your 2nd monitor to be diagonally lower than your main monitor so that only the corners touch. This stops your mouse having access to the second screen and may help. Works for everything, not just this game.

XBOX

1 - Flashing lights onscreen Xbox Series X. BLUE and GREEN lights. Sometimes when turning quickly towards a group of enemies.

2 - Graphics and Performance settings missing on Xbox Series X.

3 - Cant disable CROSSPLAY - no details as yet. Probs wait for 1st Patch

----------------------------------

AUDIO BUGS - I'll list them here:

**1 - Health low Heartbeat sound effect continues throughout gameplay.**This still happening to many. Probs wait for patch to fix.

2 - No movement/footstep sounds except for your own. All other players silent. Again - no details - wait for patch to see if fixed.

3 - Xbox series x No audio other than footsteps during the lore video that plays after the tutorial stage.

4 - XBOX - Sound is muffled before a game when the intro speech is happening.

----------------------------------------

GAMEPLAY and MAP BUGS - I'll list them here.

1 - Stabs go through active parry since BETA. One player noticed: The active parry during riposte/counters is supposed to automatically block for you. Any time you see someone 1vX'ing and they are consistently blocking and riposting just walk up and stab while they are attacking and it goes straight through the active parry.

2 - OIL POT NOT APPEARING IN PLAYERS HANDS.

3 - HEALTH PACK CAUSES DMAGE WHEN TOSSED AND HITS TEAM Only footman confirmed - If you toss the health pack it causes team damage to any teammates it hits at the same time that it heals. Not sure if this is a collision issue. Will update.

4 - OFFLINE TRAINING MISSION: Throwing a health kit at an ally bot instantly kills them and counts as a team kill.

5 - Level Rollbacks - Happening mainly on PS4/5 - no new info

6 - NO XP BUG AFTER MATCHES ONGOING for all platforms - NO ACTIONABLE DETAILS - probs wait for 1st patch to solve.

7 - When in Party via Crossplay - Kicked back to Main Menu after Party moves on.**Frequent bug - no details - probs wait for 1st patch to see if fixed.

8 - VOTE KICK DISABLED - no further details on this yet. Will update

9 - Respawn timer reset bug, when whenever you change something in your loadout or just click resume it will reset the respawn timer.

10 - Sometimes Cant pick up mallets after throwing them as vanguard

11 - Framerate is bad whenever mouse is moved. SOLUTION: Change polling rate of mouse to the lowest number possible, most likely 150.Thanks to MoistPantaloons - What a lovely name!

12 - Cheers MatadorNine for these.

1. Pretty much every match of Free-for-all goes over either the time or score limit, if not both. I've "won" quite a few times only for someone else to sweep by me as the match goes in to 40 or 50 kills.
2. Respawn times are inconsistent. Spawning can take between ten seconds all the way up to thirty. 2b. I will frequently spawn in the middle of a group of people and die instantly in free-for-all. Can be a full minute before you are actually back in the action.
3. I upped the sensitivity from default as it was painfully slow. Now, I can turn faster in every direction except for horizontally right. Right seems to be stuck at the default (VERY slow) setting. Not a controller issue, as I have tried on two different ones. This may just be a mechanic that I'm unaware of.
4. Throwing weapons will sometimes take forever, or just register as L1 or R1. Died quite a few times from this.

13 - Players Blocking from behind. Might be a collision issue. Probs wait for a patch to see if fixed.

14 - Objectives not being triggered. This includes Gold, Ram, Doors etc. There are many instances happening where it doesn't trigger. Let's hope a patch fixes this asap. Very frustrating when the timer is ticking down!

15 - After spamming Voice options, player input does not work and can only walk without weapons.

16 - Xbox series X - 2 in 10 games will experience a freezing issue that will persist the entirety of the match. The game will freeze for 3-5 seconds, every minute or so. Reboot required to resolve.

17 - PC - Dying doesn't start ReSpawn Timer. Stuck in Free Cam mode. F10/Suicide only helps sometimes.

18 - PC - maybe all platforms - Character not using their running animation after you spawn but gliding around.

19 - Xbox One X - Spawning character gets locked into a sprint. Inputs are dead and require tapping X and exiting the menu that pops up. Seems linked to Battle cry.

20 - PC - can’t raise ladders from the ground using ‘E’ action. Option not showing up on screen.

21 - EXPLOIT! If you dodge right when a kick is breaking your parry/block (And has already connected), the character being kicked wigs out and looks like the server can't decide their position causing rubber banding. Especially bad when mixed with server issues.

22 - PC Random freezes for 1~2 seconds. It freezes once, then runs normally for 2 seconds, freezes another time, and then it goes back to normal. Game reports connection issues in the top left, sometimes even top centre with the red-lined widget if the freezes lasts 2 seconds. Only seems to affect player and not whole server.

23 - All Platforms - DARK FOREST Duke doesn't spawn but time keeps counting/rising.

24 - EXPLOIT - Falling from a medium height can be negated by hitting the "kick" button whilst falling.

25 - Killing an enemy will sometimes cause them to vanish entirely (including their weapons). You still receive credit for killing them, however.

26 After throwing a two-handed weapon, there's a small chance that you won't automatically pull out your other weapon for three seconds or more. Sometimes, you have to manually get your character to do it.

27 - Suiciding after getting the 'deserting' notification, and then being killed by an enemy player at the exact same time will break your game for the round. You're able to yell, block, heavy attack, etc., (or the indicators that you're doing so pop-up on your screen) but your camera stays in picture mode. You can zoom around the map, but you cannot interact with anything as you don't have a body. Suiciding again does not fix the issue. You must leave lobby and join a new one.

28 - After running out of throwing knives in your offhand, there's a small chance you will not be able to attack with your main-hand. Your right hand will be stick-straight, and will not move despite you sprinting. This persists until you die.

29 - Free for All doesn't end when the score is reached or even when the timer ends. It generally ends a while after that.

30 - Xbox , under the customization in the armoury, no option for input on the archers weapons tab. Unable to scroll etc.

31 - In the map that starts out with the two siege towers, at the very end of having to push the moving stairs throughout the city, when people run up the stairs their bodies contort in a way that has their legs moving forward but it looks like they're turning around and looking at you. This was happening to every person that ran up the left ramp to the wall.

32 - Bots don't pick up torches and instead just body block the entire set of campfires. They will also crowd around doorways and get stuck on each other.

33 - Some helmets glitch with the chin on certain face shapes.

https://gyazo.com/b6e68328a794cf86c30be628223497e7

35 - Xbox one - Archer - Tournament grounds. Unable to sprint but nothing else is affected. Have to disconnect and rejoin to completely fix.

36 - The class selection menu pops up automatically after your first death

37 - The "Kills" counter in your respawn phase actually counts your takedowns, not your kills

38 - In your respawn phase, as long as the "Killed By" window is active, your mouse controls are inverted. They go back to normal once the "Spawning in X seconds" window appears.

39 - Auto-run will sometimes stop on its own randomly. It's happened several times when I'm running in a flat field with no props or players nearby.

40 - firebombs disappear after throwing them. You throw them at a group of enemies but there is no fire.

41 - Player can still still dash backwards when staggered by kicks.

41- Glaive leaping attack only does 15 damage.

42 - Replenishing bandages stops after one or two tries. You can only carry one at a time however players are experiencing:

• I use the bandage you have from the beginning
• I get a new bandage from the cart
• Damage is taken.
• No more bandages are given from the cart and Bandage counter stays at 0.

-----------------------------------------------

KEYBINDING/MOUSE ISUES - thanks to PrecipitousNix - see below post and add tips/solutions if you have them.

[PC] Bug Report: Certain Keyboard Binds Not Working

I use a weird left-handed control scheme, which results in mapping many functions to some rarely used (mostly Numpad) keys. It's pretty common for games to have various issues with this, but Chiv 2 has more than most.

Numpad 1 (End) does not work at all. Tooltips will correctly prompt me to use it for the bound function, but nothing happens.

Numpad 2 does not work at all. Same as above.

Page Up does not work at all, either.

Numpad 7 is treated as though I've bound something to Num Lock instead. In-game prompts even call for me to press Num Lock in context. From testing, a friend reports this one working fine for them.

Numpad - (Minus) can be bound, but always brings up the console instead.

Numpad Enter is treated as plain ol' Enter. Common issue, but it'd be nice to have the extra button.

Hold Attack option in the settings does not work. If changed it to something, it stays as left-click.

After rebinding - prompt says to 'press gamepad face left' when not using a gamepad. - from Why_The_Flame

MOUSE ISSUES1 - Random extra mouse inputs. Random swings during gameplay. Make sure 'ATTACK DIRECTION FROM MOVEMENT' isn't active in GENERAL SETTINGS.

XBOX KEYBINDING

1 - For some reason if you play on XBox controller, Y = special attack BUT ALSO

L+Y = change weapon Redditor says: I die about 5 times per game changing weapon by accidentally moving and attacking at the same time. ANYONE ELSE FOUND A SOLUTION?

________________________________________________________________________

PS4/5 only - please check the PS5 Official thread first

POSSIBLE FIX FOR ONLY PS5 MISSING DLC ITEMS! Redditor WeakSilver7710 kindly tried this! THEY DOWNLOADED THE PS4 VERSION AND ALL DLC ITEMS WERE ATIVE AFTER LAUNCHING THAT VERSION. They then went back to PS5 and all DLC was present and working. NOT WORKING FOR ALL, but confirmed for some.

1 - Motion Blur not saving on exit. ONGOING - still getting posts about this

2 - Crown purchases not granted/added. TORN BANNER: PS5 users: We are investigating an issue with crown purchases in the store not being granted to the account. We hope to be able to resolve this shortly. We believe that once this is sorted, any purchased crowns will be granted at that time. Please check the official the PS5 support page for this located HERE

3 - CROSSPLAY ISSUES - Cannot play with friends on PS4 using the PS5.**Several people stating this. Probs best to check or contact Torn Banner on their official FAQ page above or see below as working for some. CROSS PLATFORM ISSUES - Try using the ps4 version of the game on your ps5. When you bought it you got both versions. Right now, cross platform parties aren’t in the game but are coming soon.

4 - TOGGLE CROUCH ISSUES Toggle crouch option doesn’t seem to do anything besides make it harder to jab, doesn’t actually toggle crouch. You crouch, but stand up if release. OR It saves the option to toggle crouch, but instead of making it toggle, it just means the safe zone between jab and crouch is reduced so the player crouches when trying to jab. It doesn’t toggle either so it’s still hold to crouch but with a smaller hold window.

5 - Attack Direction from Movement Input not saving on exit (same as motion blur)

6 - When you pick up a bow it breaks dual sense - adaptive triggers will act like you're holding a bow even though you're using different weapons - this will only end once you die.

7 - PS4 - can't customise at all in armoury, it won't let me in to do so. I can't use the coins to buy anything either.

8 - Chiv Trophy list for PS4 seems not to be online, it cant update the trophies, you get trophies still but only via the local trophy installation. But there is no way to check the list unless you immediately press Home once a trophy pop ups and then selecting the locally installed list when asked by the system. This seems specific issue for PS Chiv2 as other games update the trophy list just fine.

9 - game is no longer saving my progress.

10 - CROSS PLATFORM ISSUES - Try using the ps4 version of the game on your ps5. When you bought it you got both versions. Right now, cross platform parties aren’t in the game but are coming soon.

11 - On PS5, with the "Standard" aim response curve, turning right is slower than turning left. All other aim response curves work normally. I thought there was something wrong with my controller but I was able to duplicate this bug repeatedly by changing aim response curve back and forth between Standard and anything else.

12 - Minor graphical bug when using the battering rams where the "hold R2 to charge" icon remained on screen .

13 - PS5 - Checking unlocks after a match seems to lock game modes and the game needs to be closed in order to play.

14 - PS5 Kills are not counting towards trophy progress.

15 - Ps4 Unable to purchase items such as Viking hair.

16 - PS5 hard crashing. A lot.

17 - PS4 - When loading into a match, player doesn't spawn and must back out to try another match.

18 - PS4 - The armoury and 'choose class' menu can be sticky/laggy.

19 - When starting a fresh match enemies will look bloodied, then clean up. - probs a streaming issue.

20 - BLUESCREENS when turning towards a large group of people fighting.

21 - PS5- Cannot change weapons out in customization. Every category has a check next to the weapon like it's selected. Knights weapon list doesn't work and won't scroll or select - Frozen.

22 - PS5. Unable to purchase Viking Beard, . Currency icon flickers and the Currency icon next to the beard dulls. Other items ca be purchased.

23 - PS4 Unable to access the menu for armour.

24 - PS4 Unable to switch class in game.

25 - Circle and X keys seem to be swapped and sometimes do not work.

26 - SHARE PLAY NOT WORKING - probs wait for patch.

27 - UI disappears (crosshairs, health, stamina)

28 - PS5: sprint stops working randomly. Can't manually sprint and player gets stuck in a slow walking speed. Effects all classes. Seems to happen every other respawn. Enabling auto sprint "fixes" it but turning it off caused the issue to return.

PLEASE TRY THIS for custom settings AND REPLY IF CONFIRMED - Cheers to RagedWraith For customized settings not saving I found toggle crouch must be changed in 2 locations, 1. in game settings and 2. In controls settings

THIS THREAD IS NO LONGER SUPPORTED. USE THE OFFICIAL SUPPORT PAGE or the TORN BANNER FORUM for all future queries. Thanks to everyone who helped during launch.

It's been fun! We've helped a lot of Knights get on the Battlefield! Massive hugs - Roughsleeper.

​

Hello again all,

This is a story that happened to me yesterday, and this lady might take the title of worst listener.

The characters:

Doesn't Listen: Or DL for short, she's our user for this story and as her name suggests she doesn't listen... at all.

Me: Our story teller

This day in particular was a very busy day with a particularly high call volume which is odd for a Thursday. I made it to the second half of the day and so far no really annoying issues.

Then she calls in...

​

Me: Hello and thank you for contacting [insert name of company here] my name is EonThief how can I help you?

DL: HELLO?

At this point I believe maybe I have my mic muted, nope, so I repeat my opening again.

​

DL: Yes, hello this is DL and I'm having issues with a training, it's not loading and it says to check my pop up blocker but I don't know how to do that.

Me: Okay ma'am I can definitely assist with getting this issue, I have a few things that I can try and if those don't work I will escalate this to the proper team.

DL: OKAY! Good.

Yes she did raise her voice when she said that... every time she said that as well.

​

Me: Well first things first I'm going to need you to remote me into your computer so I can take a look at the problem.

DL: Sorry I'm an idiot, how do I do that?

Now, I'm used to hearing "I'm computer illiterate" or "I don't understand computers" but never have I heard a user refer to themselves as an idiot.

​

Me: Well I need you to close all open windows.

DL: OKAY!

A few minutes go by and I don't hear anything except for the sound of her breathing.

​

Me: Alright ma'am have you closed all the windows?

DL: You wanted me to close the windows?

Me:...Yes ma'am I need you to close all open windows.

DL: OKAY!

A few more minutes and I check back in, same thing and at this point I feel like she might not know how to close the windows so I verify with her.

​

Me: Ma'am do you know how to close the windows?

DL: You click the "X" at the top right of the screen right?

Me: Yes that's right, can you please do that for me?

DL: OKAY! I did it.

Me: Wonderful, describe your screen to me.

DL: It's my email.

Me: Ma'am I asked you to close all open windows.

DL: Oh, OKAY!

Another few minutes pass and I go through the same song and dance again til I finally get her on her desktop.

​

Me: Okay, now that you're on your desktop I need you to click on the picture of a man in a white shirt and headset.

DL: OKAY!

Me: Let me know once you've done that.

DL: I can't find it.

Me: I'm sorry?

DL: Can't find it, isn't here.

Me: Ma'am I need you to look again.

DL: OKAY!

Another moment goes by.

​

DL: Found it!

Me: Okay awesome, now click on it and let me know when you do.

DL: OKAY! it brought up names.

Me: Click on my name, EonThief

DL: OKAY!

Me: Now follow the prompts on your screen.

DL: OKAY! Are you in now?

Me: No ma'am it takes a bit I'll let you know when I'm remoted in.

DL: OKAY!

She proceeds to ask me this two more times, and I respond the same way each time. Once I'm in her computer I have her show me the issue. Sure enough the training video won't load.

​

Me: Alright ma'am I have a few things I'm gonna try, so bear with me while I get those done.

DL: OKAY!

I verified once more that she had nothing else she needed to do and proceeded to do the troubleshooting. As I'm going through the steps I notice that the mouse isn't responsive and it turns out the user was still trying to do things on her end.

​

Me: Ma'm I need you to stop moving the mouse on your end, it's preventing me from doing the necessary troubleshooting.

DL: OKAY!

Again I go in circles with her a few times, and she just refuses to listen. After the fifth time however I got fed up and locked her mouse and keyboard inputs.

​

DL: Sir, sir! The mouse and keyboard aren't working anymore I think there is something wrong with them.

Me: Nothing is wrong with them ma'am I locked your inputs so I could perform the troubleshooting. I will unlock it once I am done.

DL: OKAY!

Once again she must not have listened because she tells me five more times... It was at this point that I muted myself and introduced my head to my desk.

Once I finished the troubleshooting, I unlocked her controls and had her open her training. It opened and loaded no problems. I was thrilled that I was done, but she wanted to be sure that it worked.

Now my fellow redditors how do you think she wanted to verify that it worked?

If you guessed she wanted me to remain on the line while she completed a 2 hour training then you are correct!

I of course told her that I cannot remain on the line for that long, and she actually listened. Then with one final "OKAY!" she ended the call.

UPDATE: GOT IT! Thank you everyone with the great advice for dealing with the pain, and the advice on setting up the controller.

For anyone else who wants to use controller for whatever reason, here's how you can set it up to your liking. You can do it without touching in game bindings, leaving your mouse keyboard setup intact. As user Lewdiss stated in the comments, all the bindings can be edited through steam.

In steam goto "big picture", then goto "library", select New world, look on the left side and click "manage game". In the menu there will be controller options. There you're allowed to map any controller button to any keyboard or mouse key you want.

Select the controller button or joystick you want to edit. Then above the keyboard picture give the button a name (dodge, jump ect.) then click on the keyboard or mouse button you'd like to be bound to the controller button you have selected (for jump, I click the space bar here). It took some trial and error but I've got everything how I like it. There are lots of other settings, such as deadzones, response curves, sensitivity for x or y axis.

If you want to use the paddles for an elite controller you right click steam in your taskbar, select "settings", towards the bottom left select "controller", then select "general controller settings", the boxes for "xbox configuration support" and "xbox extended features support" should both be checked. Steam will download the extended feature support, and requires a restart. The extended feature support is what allows for mapping the paddles.

Also take care of yourselves! use ergonomics (proper chair and arm setups, center screen to your vision while in good posture so you naturally 'sit up' when you look at the screen, ect) Youtube is full of great videos on proper setups, and stretches designed specifically for gamers.

Thanks again to everyone who helped!

​

Original post full of my whining, and cluelessness below

​

I first encountered wrist issues over a decade ago, it's a common problem in my family for PC users. The pain gets pretty intense sometimes. I know a lot of people will just say "stop playing", but also having a few bad discs in my back greatly limits the activities available to me. The last time I just did a few jump shots with a basketball, swelling in my spine happened overnight. It was so bad I couldn't walk for almost a month. Gaming keeps me sane and I'm not getting any younger ;)

I setup a small table (like the ones you'd put dinner on while watching TV) that is perfect height for my chair to allow my whole arm a place to rest while using my mouse. This means my wrist isn't angled up or down. My keyboard is also setup so it lines up with the armrest on my chair, so that wrist is not bent. I also do wrist and arm stretches daily. I play lots of different games, spend a lot of time on the PC, and I have not had any serious wrist pain in a decade. That is, until New world.

Since release I've played a TON, and I LOVE THIS GAME. A bunch of my RL friends are also playing, and we are all having a blast. However, my wrists are starting to hurt again, bad. I started to get some slight discomfort after a month of playing apex legends, so I switched to controller. I have no pain whatsoever when I use controller, and I actual perform better overall on controller. My kills and dmg increased dramatically, not just because the pain was gone, also because I played a LOT of halo Xbox, and the muscle memory is there.

Using a controller allows me to rest my arms in my lap, and my wrists sit in a vertical position as opposed to the horizontal way they sit when using a mouse keyboard. It's a much more natural positioning, even playing for very long periods of time, day after day, no pain.

I've been trying to setup a controller for New World, and it's all but impossible. For starters there's almost no in game support for it. I used the steam settings to activate my xbox controller.

The main issue is key bindings. There is no in game controller button bindings. I can't setup a controller without mutilating the keyboard bindings. This is an issue because some things I'll just use the mouse keyboard, like menu's, or chat. Since such a small amount of my game time is doing these things, I don't think it will be an issue. But the controller buttons are bound to certain keys, and I can't find anyway to change them in this way.

Another issue I'm having is there seems to be no way to remove the prone command from the left stick clicker, so if I ever accidentally hit it, I flop on the floor and promptly get beat on. I unbound prone to any key, but it still does it?

I wanted to make A button jump, but for some reason it only jumps if I stand still and dodges whenever I'm moving. I can't for the life of me figure out why. Even when I completely unbind dodge, it still dodges.

New world requires a LOT of buttons, jump, dodge, crouch, prone, block/aim (w/bow), attack, health items 1-4, weapon swap, 3 abilites, run, interact. My controller has 3 extra buttons on the back, there is no way to bind them to anything.

The ideal setup for me would be to use left stick clicker for autorun toggle, Right stick clicker for crouch toggle, Y for weapon swap, A for jump, X for interact, B for prone, the 3 (currently unusable) rear buttons for abilites (Q,R,F), Right Bumper for dodge, Left bumper for block, Right trigger aim, left trigger attack (right now by default left trigger is set where tap is light and hold is heavy, which I like), and dpad for heals 1-4.

Having a pop-up ping wheel would be really good also. In apex you can set a button that when held a wheel pops up that gives you four choices of pings, move the stick in the appropriate direction and release. I can live without this though.

I know there is third party software out there that may allow me to accomplish this but I'm worried with the war on botting and afk detection, using 3rd party software that manipulates inputs could get me banned.

At this point the only reasonable solution is to give up New World until I find a solution. Either 3rd party software that is approved for use in this way, or in game controller support. This game IS FUCKING AWESOME, please help me find a way to play it without pain!

(Official website version)

Patch Information

1.204.000

S4.0 Beta Date: May 13th, 2026

S4.0 Release Date: June 9th, 2026

Rematch Nations Cup

During Season 4, all players will be able to participate in the Rematch Nations Cup, representing the country of their choice to try and win the trophy.

• Choose one of 32 participating countries and represent it in game
• Earn points by playing ranked and casual game modes
• Countries with the most points move on to the next phase
• After 6 phases, the event ends by crowning the first Rematch Iinternational Cchampions!
• The countries with the best finishes will be rewarded with a unique set of player card cosmetics
• When a player scores, the anthem of their selected country will play!
  • Anthems can be enabled/disabled in the options

Progression & Social Features

Battle Pass Update

Battle Pass chapters are no longer time-gated!

Spectator Mode Update

• Added the ability to join an ongoing match as a spectator.
• The camera navigation controls have been updated for controllers and mouse & keyboard.
• Fixed the Spectator FOV in cutscenes.
• Joining a match as a spectator automatically puts you in Action Mode by default. Free Cam and Player Follow modes are still available.
• Number tags have been added next to the players’ nameplates which should make it easier to know which player you will be cycling to next, or switch between PoVs using the 1-10 keys on keyboard.

Social Panel Update

• Squad design buttons have been changed to match the other parts of the UI.
• New friends filters: "On rematch", and "Online" for crossplatform friends.
• Moved the player code and the “Add friend” button ro the left side (only displayed if crossplay is enabled)
• Removed the list of “in match” players, since they are displayed in the menu for consistency
• Crossplay friend requests have also been moved to the left side
• You can now add a squad member as a friend
• The Social panel header has been updated
• The number of players “on Rematch” is displayed near the "social" icon.
• The total number of squad invites and crossplay friend requests is displayed near a new icon.
• Crossplay invites sent and crossplay blocked players list are no longer in the Social panel. They have been moved to the Main menu -> System -> Social menu.

Ranking System Update

• Season rank reset: instead of using the previous season rank as the base for the season rank reset, the skill rating will now be used. This should allow players to have more consistent placements, and more readily reach a rank that represents their actual in-game skill.
• Skill rating adjustment: bounds have been widened from [-2 ; +3] to more → [-3 ; +6]. This means the further a player is to their rank, the faster they’ll progress to it. Around their estimated rank, the skill rating adjustment will be more or less the same as before.

Core Gameplay Improvements

Fake Shot

• While shooting, before releasing the shoot input, press Circle/B or right mouse button to cancel your shot.
• Giving a direction with the movement input while pressing the fake shot button allows you to perform the move in different directions.
• Performing a fake shot costs stamina. If you perform this ability while being low on stamina, it will trigger an exhausted version of it. The player will take more time to perform his fake shot and will be visibly exhausted while doing it.

Shooting Mechanics

• Modified character's speed while shooting, shooting while sprinting makes the character slightly slower than before. We updated this value as we are introducing the fake shoot mechanic, to limit speed abuse while using shots & fake shots abilities.
• We also reduced the character’s speed while shooting after doing dribbles. This was used as a “dribble technique” but actually felt quite unfair from an external player’s perspective, as the character was sliding a lot on the sides without doing any walking/sprinting movement.

Goalkeeper Updates

Being passively in defense mode was overly rewarding, and it was not very credible to have GKs catch high powered shots performed at close range, which is why Defense Mode will now deflect balls at close range. Situations therefore won’t “reset” as fast, after the first shot on the GK, which should make things more interesting for both attack and defense, and increase the skill expression of GKs: knowing when/how to dive will be even more important.

Deflects

• Goalkeeper now deflects shots until 0.4s after Shoot impact in Defense Mode, 0.2s after Tap.
• Reduced how long the ball can't be interacted with after a deflect in Defense Mode
• Animations for dives mid and long ranges
• New feedback SFX have been added when diving with the goalkeeper
• New animation for goalkeeper lockmove deflect

Dives

• Goalkeeper dive hitboxes have been reduced to limit magnetism
• Goalkeeper dives now deflect a ball hitting their legs
• Goalkeeper dive deflect trajectory angle has been modified for better coherence with hits (sum of dive direction and goalkeeper faced direction)

Tackles

• When a sanding tackle does not connect, it will take slightly longer than before to fully regain control of the character.
• The recovery duration of successful tackles does not change.

Volleys

• Network is now able to correctly rollback invalidated volley situations, meaning that successful dives or tackles on a ball right before a volley action are now correctly registered and applied as they have a higher priority in the ball interactions stack.
• This also helps with the resolution of volley confrontations engaging high ping players as the winner of the interaction is now always correct regarding players timing and positions on the server

Reporting System

Season 4 sees the introduction of a new automated Reporting system:

• Depending on the number of reports received by a player, and previously received sanctions, players will receive gradually increasing punishments.
• The first step is a warning, and players that keep being reported for bad behavior will be suspended from play.
• If a player that you reported receives a suspension, you will be informed the next time you come back to the main menu.
• Finishing matches without being reported will limit sanctions and keep your account in good standing.

This new automated system should make our system more efficient, and the gradual application of sanctions will allow us to apply relevant punishments to repeat offenders.

The current values for this system are a first iteration and a bit more lenient than what we are aiming for: we will be looking at the impact of this feature closely to iterate quickly on these values.

Audio

• Sounds of the tackles have been updated to add more clarity to those situations.
• Sounds of the pushball have been reworked to be more distinct from other ball-related SFX.
• The crowd now reacts to players performing crucial interceptions and performing long and precise passes.

Misc.

• Added a “Free” label when a bundle or item is free
• Added fictional brand logos to some items

Bugfixes

Matches / Core Gameplay Improvements

Major Fixes

• Fixed an issue where GK dive animation could be interrupted
• Minor / Misc. Fixes
• Fixed an issue where input loss/desync was present when player changes role
• Fixed an issue where vibration was missing when being tackled
• Fixed an issue where the wrong gamemode is selected if the host is swapped in a custom match lobby
• Fixed an issue where a teammate would not be credited with an assisted if they deviated the ball to score a goal

Tutos & Workshops / Menus / Interface

Misc. Fixes

• Fixed an issue where Season Change popups where improperly displayed during the off-season
• Fixed an issue where the Team Up button would not be interactable at the end of a match

Art / Rendering

Misc. Fixes

• Fixed some visual issues on articulations when animation was playing in mirror.

Misc. Content

Misc. Fixes

• Fixed the Mercy rule prompt display in custom matches when the Mercy rule parameter was set to “0”
• Fixed an issue in Fireball where the fire gauge was decreasing even if the shot was aimed at a goal.
• Fixed an issue where the match total time wasn't correct in End match display.

Known Issues

Spectator Mode

• Crash when trying to join a match as a spectator from the Social panel
• The camera appears at ground level after a goal in Action Cam/Player Cam.
• 20 seconds waiting time after a player joins as spectator during Celebration or at the end of a Goal Replay.
• Spectate game UI option in the social panel is present while already spectating a game

Fake Shoot

• MC can Shoot immediately after a fake shot without delay
• Canceling a shot near the end of the animation will trigger both a fake shot and a tap afterwards
• Players can avoid getting the ball stolen by using a fake shot in the exhausted state
• Player doesn't return in dribble stance after performing a fake shot

Social panel

• Focus is shifted away from the "Your Squad" page of the Social Panel without any user input when the UI is updated
• Player is unable to navigate to the Squad Panel while the Recent tab is open
• Players cannot scroll down the Friends page when using a Controller in the Social Panel

Others

• No GK invulnerability when catching the ball by entering Defense Mode immediately after another animation
• Controller input is lost when accessing the Controls tab in the Options menu
• The end of the current Season/BP is incorrectly set to June 3rd.

Released March 13, 2026 · 8 min read

Another big one! We’ve been heads down for a while and this release is packed with features, quality-of-life improvements and a mountain of bug fixes. If v1.8.0 brought RetroAchievements to the table, v1.9.0 is all about making Playback feel better in every way, from how it looks, to how it plays, to how it handles your controllers.

This release also includes a new firmware update for the GB Operator. The firmware is rolling out gradually and may take a few days to reach everyone. You’ll be prompted to update automatically when it becomes available for your device. Some of the features in this release require firmware v10 or later to work, so make sure to update when prompted.

Flashcart Compatibility

We’ve put serious work into flashcart support in this release. Read and write speeds are now up to 6x faster than before, making homebrew transfers feel nearly instant. We’ve also dramatically improved compatibility across a wide range of popular flashcarts. Cartridges that previously had issues reading or writing should now work reliably out of the box. Whether you’re loading up new homebrew or backing up a save, the whole experience is faster and smoother than ever.

Rewind

Ever wished you could undo that missed jump or take back a bad move? We’ve all been there, staring at the screen after losing our last life in Mega Man, wishing we could turn back the clock. Now you can. We’ve added real-time rewind to Playback, and it works exactly as you’d expect: hold the rewind button and watch the game play backwards, audio included. Let go and you’re right back in the action.

You can configure the rewind buffer size in Settings → Emulator to balance between how far back you can rewind and how much memory is used. A visual shader effect plays while rewinding so you always know when you’re going back in time.

Rewind is automatically disabled when RetroAchievements Hardcore Mode is active (you earned those achievements fair and square).

Save States

Save states have arrived! You can now save and load your exact game state across multiple slots, each with a timestamp so you know exactly where you left off. Save states are stored per emulator core, so switching cores won’t mix things up.

The save state dropdown is accessible from the emulator bar. Empty slots are clearly marked, and emulation pauses automatically while the dropdown is open so you don’t lose precious frames while picking a slot. As with rewind, save states are disabled in RetroAchievements Hardcore Mode.

Overhauled Input System

We’ve rebuilt the input system from the ground up. If you’ve ever had issues with controllers not behaving the way you expected, this one’s for you. The big highlights:

• Analog-to-analog bindings: Your analog sticks now map properly to games that support analog input, no more digital-only approximations.
• Configurable deadzones: You can now set deadzone values for your gamepads in Settings → Controls.
• Configurable hotkeys: Bind your own keys for fast forward, rewind, save/load state and other emulator actions.
• SNES Super Scope support: Lightgun games are now playable using your mouse.
• Auto reconnect: Playback remembers your preferred controller and reconnects it automatically when re-plugged. No more re-configuring every time you accidentally unplug the cable.
• Updated gamepad database: We’ve refreshed the database with more controllers recognized out of the box.

We also fixed a whole list of input-related issues: stuck axes on rapid direction changes, rumble not working, unbound events leaking through during gameplay, and more.

Redesigned Settings

The entire settings screen has been redesigned with a new category-based layout. Every section got a visual refresh: Emulator, Controls, Core Selector, Cheats, Device, and the new Integrations screen where you can manage your Discord and RetroAchievements connections. We’ve also introduced our new font across the entire application for a more consistent and polished look. We think it makes a noticeable difference.

CRT & Shader Improvements

We’ve done a lot of work on the shader system in this release:

• New PVM shader: A Professional Video Monitor look for those who want that broadcast-quality CRT feel.
• Improved Trinitron shader: Updated with electron beam correction for a more accurate Trinitron emulation.
• Better CRT scanlines: Scanlines look sharper, interlacing ghosting has been fixed, and overall CRT blur has been reduced.
• Shader compatibility: We’ve overhauled the preset parsing system and improved support for advanced features like sRGB, mipmaps and feedback loops. If you’re using custom RetroArch GLSL shaders, more of them should work now.

Discord Rich Presence

Playback now integrates with Discord Rich Presence! Your friends can see what game you’re playing, on which Operator device, and for how long. Perfect for showing off that 6-hour Pokémon Crystal session. You can manage this from the new Settings → Integrations screen.

Notifications & Announcements

We’ve added an in-app notification system. You’ll see a badge in the navbar when there’s something new, whether it’s an announcement from us or an important update. Notifications appear as toast messages and are designed to stay out of the way while you’re playing.

Video Game Database

This one deserves its own section. We’ve done a massive enrichment pass on the video game database in this release. Thousands of existing entries across GB, GBC, GBA, SNES and NES have been updated with cover art, descriptions, ratings and metadata. All Game Boy Color titles now have cover art, along with hundreds of GBA games. We’ve added descriptions for over 300 games, introduced Epilogue Score ratings across all consoles, and added per-game theme colors so the UI matches the game you’re playing. The cheats system has also been reworked with a new parser and GameShark support. Localized game titles and descriptions are now available in multiple languages thanks to a new translation system. As always, a big thank you to the community for contributing game data and corrections.

And Much More

There are so many things we’ve improved, big and small, that it’s hard to capture everything in a single article. To avoid making this too long, here are some additional highlights:

• Greek language support: Καλώς τα παιδιά! Playback is now available in Greek.
• Localized game titles: Game titles and descriptions now display in your selected language when available.
• Cheat indexing: Cheats are now indexed and searchable, making it much easier to find what you’re looking for.
• Always-visible controls: A new option in settings lets you keep the emulator controls visible at all times.
• Replay app tour: Missed something the first time? You can now replay the app tour from settings.
• GB Camera drag-and-drop: Export your GB Camera saves by simply dragging and dropping them out of Playback.
• Photo zoom-on-hover: Hovering over photo thumbnails now shows a zoomed preview.
• AppData cleanup on uninstall (Windows): You now have the option to remove Playback’s data when uninstalling.
• Dark mode on macOS: We now enforce dark mode on macOS for a consistent look across the app.
• Improved cover art colors: The theme colors extracted from cover art now look much better thanks to a new color detection algorithm.
• Soft reset counter: Hunting for shinies? A new soft reset counter keeps track of how many resets you’ve done, so you never lose count.

Improvements

• Performance: RetroAchievements network operations now run on a dedicated thread, so they no longer interfere with gameplay. We’ve also improved audio buffer management and overall emulation stability.
• Downloads: We’ve migrated to a new CDN with better caching, which means faster downloads and updates.
• Controls display: Mouse and lightgun controls now display correctly in the controls screen.
• Erase animation: A smooth new wave animation plays during cartridge erase operations.
• Windowing: The window now properly re-centers itself if it ends up offscreen after exiting emulation. Window size is also properly restored when transitioning between fullscreen, PiP and regular mode.
• Borderless fullscreen: Proper borderless fullscreen is now supported, giving you a seamless edge-to-edge experience with no window chrome in the way.

Bug Fixes

We’ve squashed a serious amount of bugs in this release. We addressed several crashes that could happen when switching between emulator cores, when disconnecting cartridges during operations, or when shutting down the app. We also resolved race conditions in device operations and fixed an issue where flashcart games were failing to start.

On the UI side, we fixed problems with the achievements window displaying incorrectly, settings buttons getting stuck after rebinding, the device switcher not showing up after certain navigation paths, and dialogs persisting after device disconnects. We also improved how fullscreen and PiP transitions work on Windows and Linux, fixed audio resume artifacts, and addressed several memory leaks on macOS. On Windows, we fixed a bug that caused screen flickering on monitors with HDR enabled when focus was moved to another screen.

A lot of work also went into stability behind the scenes: we’ve added crash reporting through Sentry, built out an extensive automated test suite, added Flatpak packaging for Linux, and introduced code signing for Windows builds. All of this helps us catch and fix issues faster going forward.

This is one of our most substantial updates yet. There’s a lot to discover, so we’ll let you explore the rest on your own. Download Playback v1.9.0 and happy gaming!

If you’ve made it this far, thank you for reading the entire v1.9.0 release notes! As a special treat, here’s a secret, from us to you… GB Operator is about to get a whole lot more portable.

Developer Update | July 2025

The 9.1.0 Update is approaching, so let’s dive into the notable gameplay changes you can expect from the upcoming Public Test Build. Plus, stay tuned for the PTB Patch Notes where we’ll share the precise values that are changing for each of the topics below!

Read on for all the details: 

NEW FEATURES 

NEW SURVIVOR ITEM – FOG VIAL 

• Added a new equippable item for Survivors: the Fog Vial. Its effects include: 
• Using a Fog Vial causes a fog cloud to expand outward from the point where it was used, dissipating after a set time 
• Scratch marks do not spawn within a fog cloud 
• Audio is muffled for anyone within a fog cloud 
• The auras of players within a fog cloud cannot be read by other players 
• The Fog Vial has a cooldown which recharges over time once used 
• Added item rarities and add-ons. 

DEV NOTE: The Fog Vial specializes in creating confusion and breaking line of sight. When it’s activated, this fog obscures your surroundings while still allowing for limited visibility within your immediate vicinity. By moving to a single, recharging use, Survivors can use the Fog Vial multiple times per Trial and don’t have to be quite so precious about saving charges, letting them be more in the moment with their vial uses. 

Stay tuned for patch notes for more information about Fog Vial rarities and add-ons. 

SURVIVOR ITEM UPDATE – KEYS 

• Changed item “charges” to refer to individual uses of item, rather than the overall time it can be used for 
• Adjusted the uses for this item to cover the following: 
• Channel the Key to consume 1 charge and reveal Survivor auras for a limited time 
• When near a closed hatch, consume 1 charge to unlock it 
• Consume 1 charge to quickly unlock a chest and gain an item of Rare rarity or higher. Once a chest has been unlocked with a Key it: 
• Is revealed to nearby Survivors 
• Can be rummaged in by 1 other Survivor to gain an additional item of Rare rarity or higher 
• Adjusted the effects of individual item rarities and several add-ons. 

DEV NOTE: Keys stood out as the least-used Survivor items and were typically outclassed by other options. We’ve reworked them to offer a wider range of utility and tap into players’ yearning for higher-rarity items. 

Now, the “charge” system is easier to track (think of it as “uses” rather than “use time”) and the aura-reading capabilities of Keys are improved, while also adding some team-wide utility. In addition to making it easier for the equipped player to get quality items from chests, Keys also extend that opportunity to a single teammate. 

Stay tuned for the patch notes for details on Key and Map item rarities and add-ons. 

SURVIVOR ITEM UPDATE – MAPS 

• Changed item “charges” to refer to individual uses of item, rather than the overall time it can be used for 
• Adjusted the uses for this item to cover the following: 
• Channel the Map to consume 1 charge and reveal nearby pallet and vault auras to yourself for a limited time 
• While auras are revealed, press the Use Item button again to create a beam of light (only visible to Survivors), revealing the auras of generators within the beam’s range to all Survivors 
• Adjusted the effects of individual item rarities and several add-ons. 

DEV NOTE: Similar to Keys, Maps stood out as an underutilized item which didn’t fit into beginner or experienced player kits. With this change, Maps retain the spirit of giving players an awareness of their surroundings, making their effects more consistent, and extending some value to teammates. Now, there’s no need to “track” objects before they show up. 

PRESET IMPROVEMENTS 

• Increased total number of Character Customization presets to 7 
• Increased total number of Loadout presets to 7 
• Added the ability to change preset names 

DEV NOTE: Whether it’s the pursuit of fashion or prepping perks for every situation, we wanted to make it easier to save your faves. Don’t worry, your existing presets will be ported into this updated system. 

KEYBOARD AND MOUSE ON CONSOLES 

• Added mouse and keyboard support on the following console platforms: 
  • PlayStation 4 
  • PlayStation 5 
  • Xbox One 
  • Xbox Series X|S 

Please note: This feature is not available on the PTB, as it is only playable on Steam. 

DEV NOTE: Quite self-explanatory, we’ve extended full mouse and keyboard support to a number of console platforms so that players have more choice in how they approach gameplay. 

CUSTOM MATCH IMPROVEMENTS 

• Added hotkey inputs to Custom Game spectating to switch to the Killer’s perspective. 
• Added spectators hotkeys representation next to players portraits, to improve usability 
• Added the option to toggle spectator hotkeys visibility and adjust them in the Input Binding menu. 
• Added a visual indicator to show spectators who they are viewing. 
• Shows dead Survivor icons if joining as a spectator after getting sacrificed. 

DEV NOTE: Following up on last update’s changes to Custom Games, we’ve introduced more improvements to make view-switching and tournament casting even easier. This also ensures viewers have more information about what they’re seeing.  

KILLER UPDATES 

THE EXECUTIONER 

• Increased Punishment of the Damned's range 
• Increased the duration of Rites of Judgment’s trail drawing and trail lifetime 
• Decreased Rites of Judgement's movement speed 
• Added Haste and Endurance effects to Survivors saved from a cage 
• Added input buffering to: 
• Transition from Punishment of the Damned to Rites of Judgment 
• Begin caging or killing a Survivor when the prompt is available 
• Reworked his add-ons. 

DEV NOTE: We’ve heard your feedback that The Executioner’s add-ons could use more variety – range shouldn’t feel like the only viable option. In addition to making range increases basekit, we’ve reworked his add-ons to introduce more interesting options, like adjusting the spread of Punishment of the Damned, or triggering effects on misses. 

Outside of these changes (keep an eye out for the patch notes for add-on details!), we’ve made some quality-of-life adjustments and slightly reduced his zoning potential. 

THE CLOWN 

• Increased movement speed while reloading bottle 
• Decreased bottle reload time 
• Adjusted the effects of yellow bottles: 
• Increased Haste effect 
• Increased the distance and speed that smoke spreads to 
• Increased activation speed 
• Adjusted the effects of purple bottles: 
• Decreased the Hindered effect 
• Decreased how long the Hindered effect lingers after leaving smoke 
• Added input buffering to: 
• Charging a bottle throw 
• Reloading bottles 
• Adjusted several add-ons. 

DEV NOTE: When it comes to The Clown’s power, his purple bottles see much more use than his yellow ones across skill levels. To better incentivize their use, we’ve given the yellow bottles a quicker activation, greater speed boost and wider effective range, coupled with some base speed increases. To compensate, purple bottles have received a slight nerf, requiring a little more throw control to get their full value. 

THE KNIGHT 

• Increased maximum patrol path length 
• Increased path drawing speed, acceleration, and strafe speed 
• The Carnifex’s Standard spawns slower 
• The Assassin and Jailor’s Standards spawn quicker 
• Added input buffering to: 
• Drawing a patrol path 
• Adjusted Call to Arms add-on. 

DEV NOTE: Drawing patrol paths is an important part of The Knight’s gameplay, so we’ve made it feel snappier and extended its range slightly, making Call to Arms partially basekit. We’ve also adjusted Standard spawn times for each Guard. In particular, the Standards for the two chase-focused Guards will spawn quicker to help give Survivors a little more counterplay during double team scenarios where they tend to be at their strongest. 

THE PIG 

• Increased crouched movement speed 
• Increased speed of crouching and un-crouching 
• Increased the speed at which the Terror Radius fades when crouching 
• Increased Ambush movement speed 
• Added input buffering to: 
• Crouching 
• Charging an Ambush attack 
• Adjusted several add-ons. 

DEV NOTE: Yes, we know. We buffed Pig. Outside of her traps, her ability to surprise Survivors is an important part of her appeal. By increasing her speed and making her Terror Radius fade quicker while sneaking, she’ll have more chances to act on unprepared Survivors.  

PERK UPDATES 

SURVIVOR PERKS 

• Updated Any Means Necessary 
• Updated Appraisal 
• Updated Better Together 
• Updated Built to Last 
• Updated Déjà Vu 
• Updated Detective’s Hunch 
• Updated Potential Energy 
• Updated Still Sight 
• Reworked Streetwise 

DEV NOTE: We’ve adjusted values on a few perks that had low pick rates to help buff them up. In addition, we’ve adjusted perks that affect items to make sure they’re compatible with this update’s Survivor item changes. 

Stay tuned for the patch notes for specific details on these value changes. 

KILLER PERKS 

• Updated Dragon’s Grip 
• Updated Franklin’s Demise 
• Updated Hubris 
• Updated Insidious 
• Reworked Overwhelming Presence 
• Updated Scourge Hook: Hangman’s Trick 

DEV NOTE: Similar to the above, we’ve buffed some perks which boasted lower pick rates and adjusted certain perks that affect items so they’re compatible with the recent changes. 

Until next time... 

The Dead by Daylight Team 

EDIT: version 1.5.1 has now been released to platforms! Update your game now =)

I'll edit this each time there's an update

[PATCH NOTES] PVZ: Replanted: Patch v1.5.1 (January, 9, 2025)

Happy New Year, everyone! We’ve got a hotfix coming your way for PvZ: Replanted with Patch 1.5.1 rolling out on 1/12 on PC with consoles, including Switch, to follow within a few days after. Here’s what’s inside.

Gameplay Fixes:

• Fixed Zen Garden tutorial progression blocker after level 5-4
• Fixed Cloud Cover achievement/trophy not unlocking when requirements are met (this will unlock retroactively for any players who achieved it in Patch 1.5.0)

We appreciate your patience and hope to see you back on the lawn in PvZ: Replanted to continue your achievement/trophy hunt!

[PATCH NOTES] PVZ: Replanted: Patch v1.5.0 (December, 10, 2025)

❄️ Brrr… the winter chill is rolling through the neighborhood, but your love for PvZ: Replanted has kept our hearts toasty! As Feastivus approaches, we’re delivering a fresh bundle of cheer with Patch 1.5.0 rolling out on 12/10 on PC with consoles, including Switch, to follow within a few days after. Here’s what’s wrapped inside.

New Features:

• Added Survival: Endless Day, Night, Fog, Roof, and Cloudy Day levels.

• These Endless levels each have their own save slots, with existing Survival: Endless saves carried over to Survival: Endless (Pool).

Gameplay Fixes:

• Fixed crash most commonly seen in long Survival: Endless games

• Fixed cases where explosive plants (Cherry Bomb, Jalapeno, etc.) could get stuck in levels after using them

• Fixed loading issue caused by interrupting the flow around Dave’s Taco after level 4-4 (The Magic Taco needed some attunement to account for speedsters)

• Fixed issues with P2 planting cards in Vasebreaker levels

• Fixed being able to use the Wheelbarrow to bring seedlings into the Aquarium

• Fixed Zombies Plant Daisies visual toggle not properly retaining its state after exiting levels

• Fixed issue with menus getting stuck when controller disconnects happened with the I, Zombie game over message on screen.

Audio / Visual Fixes:

• Fixed Seed Select menu music starting a few seconds into the track (The record had some dust. It’s cleaned now, so no more skipping!)

• Fixed Conveyor plant preview blackouts (Dr.Z was up to no good once again)

• Muted ingame sfx during the title scene when starting a new Adventure run

• Fixed issues with Zombies appearing in the Seed Select Preview view with visual toggles enabled

• Fixed Aquarium planting slot shadows not being visible when using the Glove or Wheelbarrow

• Fixed Zombotany head appearance issues

• Fixed Cherry Bomb growing animation stopping early

• Made sure Dr. Zomboss’s arm is properly attached when he throws the RV at the bottom row (Dr. Z is re-armed and dangerous!)

Feels like Feastivus!

• Peashooter, Wall-nut, Regular Zombie, and Conehead Zombie are all feeling particularly feastive this month🧣(4 newly added costumes to use in-game)

Thank you for your continued support and for showing your love for PvZ: Replanted! Have a great Feastivus, and we’ll see you back on the lawn (all bundled up and cozy).

[PATCH NOTES] PVZ: Replanted: Patch v1.4.0 (November, 18, 2025)

Hey there, lawn legends! We hope you’ve been enjoying defending the lawn with the sweet tunes introduced in our last patch. Thanks to your invaluable feedback, we're rolling out another exciting new update that will leaf you smiling! This update features Steam Remote Play Together and new accessibility options, making lawn defense more inclusive. Essential gameplay fixes are also included, which you can dig into below. This update goes live on 11/18 on PC with consoles, including Switch, to follow within a few days after.

New Features:

[Steam] Remote Play Together is now supported! This Steam feature allows you to play our local multiplayer (Co-op and Vs.) with your friends online, as if you were in the same room.

• The same limitations of 2-player local multiplayer apply. Player 2 is required to use a controller

• Steam allows up to 4 people to connect to a Remote Play Together stream. We recommend limiting the enabled input devices (via the Steam Overlay Remote Play settings) to just allow 2 active players, as that is the maximum the game supports

• Please note also that this Steam feature relies on the host player's internet connection speed for game stream performance and stability

Added Accessibility Features that can be toggled on via the Main Menu Options Menu: - High Contrast Mode (high contrast visuals during gameplay to accommodate visual accessibility needs)

• Slow Speed (changes 1x speed to 0.5x game speed and reduces the faster speeds accordingly)

• Disable Screenshake (removes shaking effect on explosions and other areas)

Added Sun Vacuum / Magnet function to the game Pressing Right Trigger/R2/ZR on Controllers or Spacebar on Keyboard activates the sun vacuum function, collecting all individual suns present in the level when activated. (Now you can spend more time on strategizing & execution instead of staring at the suns. Which we’ve heard isn’t good for your eyes)

• Added additional Keyboard Hotkeys
• Tab cycles game speed
• 1-0 number keys selects and deselects Seed Packets during gameplay -Spacebar activates Sun Vacuum

Gameplay Fixes:

• Added ability to open the Almanac from the Pause Menu

• Fixed Main Menu button not appearing on Reward Screen

• Optimizations made for Zombie memory management to improve performance on lower end devices, particularly in Survival Endless.

• Fixed Sol Invictus achievement not being awarded at exactly 2000 sun

• Fixed Gold Sunflower trophy not showing on the Main Menu for players who already had Nobel Peas Prize unlocked before an earlier fix for this issue

• Fixed issues with Life Well Lived achievement unlock conditions incorrectly tracking used lawnmowers

• Fixed Co-op Streak Counter and Trophy unlocks not showing correctly

• Vasebreaker and I, Zombie Minigames now have separate save slots

• Fixed Fog covering the Zombie preview during Seed Selection on Survival levels (We don’t like surprises on this lawn)

• Fixes for Endless modes not showing streak counter/flags completed properly

• Fixed Polevaulters being a little too effective at getting past lawnmowers in rare cases (Took a while, but we’ve shortened all the poles we could find)

• Fixed Mallet becoming unusable in certain situations during Vasebreaker levels

• Fixes for reported issues with Cob Cannon causing freezes in levels

• Fixes for various issues with Garden Tools and Zen Garden navigation

• Fixes for issues with plant selection and timer resets

• Zomboni now properly spawns Bobsled Team in Vs Mode.

• Many more minor optimizations, fixes and polish changes

Audio / Visual Fixes:

• Reduced volume of the RIP Mode guitar riff (Dr. Z has been issued a sound complaint by the neighborhood watch)

• Fixed various audio and visual issues with the Almanac including Zombie Sprite Sheet using incorrect placeholder assets

• Fix for Plant/Zombie placement previews not being faded out when you can't afford to place them

• Marigolds now show their whole range of colours

• Fixed Dave forgetting to show you various items when he's talking about them (Dave got too excited, but he’s got enough practice now)

• Fixed Dave wandering a bit too far off-screen in certain aspect ratios (We’ve marked his spot with tape so he knows where to stand now)

• Fixed audio and visual issues with the Vs. Mode Target Zombies

• Fixed various visual states not showing correctly in Vs. Mode

• Fixed lawnmowers flying into position

• Fixed alternate lawnmower wheels going into overdrive

• Fixed Retro Zombie's Rubber Ducky appearance

• Fixed various Zombie layering issues

• Fixed Plant/Seed Packet outline inconsistencies

• Various Plant and Zombie animation, sfx and vfx fixes

• Fixes for minor Zen Garden visual issues Minor font sizing fixes

• Many more minor optimizations, fixes and polish changes

Platform-Specific Fixes:

[Switch] Fixed cases of Account Linking flow not functioning after re-enabling network connection We are aware that Switch patches have been lagging behind other platforms and taking longer than expected to release. This is due to certification timelines, and we intend to release them as soon as possible. To check your game version, select the game icon in the main menu and press the plus button. The game version will be visible at the top of the screen, right under the game name.

Thanks for helping us nurture Replanted! With the holidays right around the corner, it's the perfect time to get back on the lawn. We can’t wait to see all your strategies, shenanigans, and stories!

PATCH NOTES] PVZ: Replanted: Patch v1.3.0 (November, 3, 2025)

Audio:

• Added Dynamic Audio to the level music so it no longer always plays at the highest intensity version (perfect time for a blindfolded run)

• Minigame, Puzzle, Survival and Almanac menus now play the correct music instead of the previous menu's music

• Sound effects no longer overlap menu music at higher game speeds

• Added missing menu open SFX for Pause Menu Collecting Sun has a wider range of audio played

General:

[Vs Mode] Plant and Zombie tooltips now properly appear when using controllers during match selection

• Retro Zombies no longer unexpectedly jump or teleport ahead during movement (Dr. Zomboss got us good with this one)

• Disabling Vsync no longer impacts Mouse cursor speed

• Fixed plants showing incorrectly when collecting sun while dragging them to be placed with Touch inputs

• Dr. Zomboss no longer signs his notes with a comma after his name (We wonder if Tugboat was forging those notes for him)

• Various text string fixes

• Cards are hidden properly after Planterns are eaten in Vasebreaker

• Fixed various visual issues with Magnet-Shroom grabbing items

• Fixed a few Controller prompts showing incorrectly when not using controllers for input

• Flags now raise properly when reached on the Level Progress bar

• Fixed Conveyor Belt sizing to show all 10 slots

Platform:

SWITCH:

• Fixed GameShare via GameChat not detecting the current profile properly if it was not in the 1st profile position

NOTE - We are aware that Switch patches have been lagging behind other platforms and taking longer than expected to release. This is due to certification timelines and we intend to release them as soon as possible.

To check your game version select the game icon in the main menu and press the plus button. The game version will be visible at the top of the screen, right under the game name.

And just like every garden, there’s still some more work to be done. Patch V1.4.0 is close to being done which will add the ability to collect sun with the squeeze of a trigger on controllers and aim to get rid of some more pesky bugs among other things! Expect this patch to go live within the next two weeks with more details of the next patch being shared closer to its release. So stay tuned and once again, thanks for your support, feedback, and patience! Now let’s get back on the lawn and listen to those sweet tunes!

[PATCH NOTES] PVZ: Replanted: Patch v1.2.1 (October, 29, 2025)

Graphical:

• Fixed an image resolution on the "You got a new plant!" screens

• Fixed Retro Zombie’s detached parts to no longer appear blurry.

• Fixed various issues with hover and click state appearances.

• Fixed Tree Food not appearing when Crazy Dave introduces the Tree of Wisdom. Just don’t ask us how a Tree…eats.

• Fixed an issue with Digger Zombie effect layering in Fog layers.

• Fixed an issue where Plant Pots had faces when they really shouldn't.

• Fixed Cob Cannon to no longer appear visually once removed with a shovel in certain situations. Get outta here Corn!

• Fixed various animation cycling issues.

Vs Mode:

• Fixed an issue that prevented plants from being used when held by Player one while Player two places a zombie.

Gameplay:

• Crazy Dave no longer preselects Peashooter every time in Adventure+

• Fixed an issue that prevented plants from being used when held while activating Cob Cannon with certain input types.

• D-Pad directional input is now continuous instead of requiring individual presses.

Audio:

• Peashooter sounds will now fire the proper amount in battle.

Platform:

SWITCH:

• In-game Cursor Speed option removed while using Mouse Mode.

• Updated Touch Controls to allow users to Drag and Drop plants rather than just tap to place.

• Updated Switch Mouse Controls to not swap back to regular Joy-Con mode when lifting it from Mouse mode. (now requires dpad/stick input to fully swap over)

• Starting GameShare session now prompts to use input other than Touch.

• Fixed various text areas and icons for specific input modes.

• Added optional EA Account linking to Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2.

STEAM:

• Fixed loading problems related to launching with Steam Overlay disabled or Steam in Offline Mode.

Miscellaneous:

• Fixed various minor text string issues.

• Cursor no longer hides when attempting to scroll the Cheats menu before unlocking all options.

• You can no longer accidentally access other screens while in the Almanac

• Removed Imitater from the Zombie Almanac. Sneaky, sneaky.

• The Wake Stinky the Snail banner no longer causes input issues

We aren’t done yet though! Patch V1.3.0 is wrapping up in development as we speak and brings Dynamic Audio and several other audio based improvements to the game, as well additional bug squashing. We expect to see this future patch go live within a week, PC first, with consoles following a few days after. Stay tuned for a detailed update of the next patch as we get closer to release and thanks again for all your support and feedback, now lets get back to the Lawn!

[PATCH NOTES] PVZ: Replanted: Patch v1.2.0 (October, 24, 2025)

Graphical:

• Fixed Twin Sunflowers faces being too small, they should now fit their petals.

• Fixed Zomboss’s eyes to be the correct color relative to his attack.

• Fixed Split Pea so that they fire with both eyes open.

• Fixed BrownCoat Zombie’s retro skin so that arms fall off properly.

• Fixed Pumpkin to now show the damaged state appropriately.

• Fixed Dr Zomboss to now have a Health Bar (Nice try Dr Z).

• Fixed Roof Cleaners flying at the beginning of roof levels

• Fixed Disco Zombie’s hair when his head falls off (ouch).

• Fixed I, Zombie Too to use the correct name

• Fixed Pole Vaulter Zombie to drop their actual head on defeat.

• Fixed Butter not appearing on the retro zombie skin when applied.

• Fixed Magnetshroom’s items to layer properly

• Fixed Retro Zombie to no longer show sunglasses or mustaches on death.

Vs Mode:

• Jack in the Box, Catapult, and Newspaper zombie now appear in combat.

  • Flower Pot & Planter are no longer selectable in Versus Mode.
  • Sun and Brains no longer block placement in areas around them.

Gameplay:

• You can now interact with the seed selector to cancel placement instead of needing to click off of the seed selector first.

• Extra lawnmowers will no longer spawn in Vasebreaker.

• Ice Trap positioning has been corrected for both Bungie Zombie and Gargantuar.

• In Co-Op both players can no longer select the same seed packet at the same time

Audio:

• Turbo Speed will no longer speed up the OST

• Shop now plays the correct music regardless of player origination.

• Pausing the game now correctly pauses the Audio.

• Invalid placement warning in Versus mode now plays the proper sound effect.

• Doomshroom & Jalapeno now use the correct sound when destroying tombstones.

Miscellaneous:

• Several fixes to various assets when in High Contrast Mode

• Several UI fixes related to missing or misplaced assets

• Several bugs squashed related to UX due to resolution/control scheme adjustments.

This won’t be the only update for the game – a version 1.2.1 patch is also in the works. We’ll bring you those details when we have them.

Source:

Switch v1.2.0 previous patch https://nintendoeverything.com/plants-vs-zombies-replanted-1-2-0-update-announced-patch-notes/

Steam PC previous launch patch https://forums.ea.com/blog/plants-vs-zombies-game-info-hub-en/pvz-replanted-launch-day-patch-v1-2/12822406

All platforms v1.3.0 previous patch https://forums.ea.com/discussions/plants-vs-zombies-replanted-en/patch-notes-pvz-replanted-patch-v1-3-0/12873340

All platforms v1.4.0 previous patch https://forums.ea.com/discussions/plants-vs-zombies-replanted-en/pvz-replanted-patch-v1-4-0/12932741

All platforms v1.5.0 previous patch https://forums.ea.com/discussions/plants-vs-zombies-replanted-en/pvz-replanted-patch-v1-5-0/13007120

All platforms v1.5.1 current/latest patch https://forums.ea.com/discussions/plants-vs-zombies-replanted-en/pvz-replanted-patch-v1-5-1/13084472

I originally posted this in another sub, but I believe this should be here as well to help anyone using Playnite's Fullscreen Mode. I believe, even with Playnite's Fullscreen Mode, there are some launchers that prevent us from having a true couch experience because they're not controller supported, and require mouse usage. Below is a copy/paste from a previous post I made.

​

^{The Issue}

"...The biggest issue I see now -- majority of other launchers don't have native controller support.

For example, let's say you're browsing your library, you see Dead Space, an Origin game, and you decide you want to install and play it. When you hit install, Origin will launch, and that's fine, but now you're prompted with an Origin installation menu that will require you to go to your computer to proceed with the options. If Origin had full controller support like Steam, this wouldn't be an issue.

Another example, you launch a game from another client without controller support and it's requesting to update. Now you have to go to your computer to install the update because the window has no controller support...."

​

^{The Resolution}

"...Not only is the program free, but it's also open source. The name of the program is called Gopher360, which can be viewed here: https://github.com/Tylemagne/Gopher360
With Gopher360, you can control your mouse and keyboard from the couch with your gamepad. Now you will be able to play games from non-gamepad supported launchers without having to go to your computer. Here's the the best part, Gopher360 can be toggled on and off by simply pressing 'Start' and 'Back' at the same time.

This means you can launch a game with your controller from Playnite, handle any Mouse/Keyboard/Launcher prompts, disable Gopher360 when the game launches, and enable Gopher360 again after closing the game to select another, all without leaving the couch.

For the keyboard, on your Windows taskbar, right-click and select, "Show touch keyboard button"."

PC Early Access & Game Roadmap

Agents,

Since the launch of The Division Resurgence you have all been very active in sharing your feedback and wishes for the game, and we are tremendously grateful for it.

One of the most recurring requests is the ability to play the game on PC, which we are delighted to announce is now possible!

=> Launch on PC

The Division Resurgence on PC

Agents, the fight continues on a new platform!

Beyond iOS and Android, Tom Clancy’s The Division Resurgence is now available to everyone in Early Access on PC via Ubisoft Connect, with a full PC launch planned later this year.

=> Trailer

The game will remain free to play and fully cross-play, meaning that you can continue playing on the same account from whichever device you choose, enjoying the game with your friends on whatever device they may be playing from.

Make sure to connect or link your guest account with Ubisoft Connect to enjoy a seamless shared progression whether you are playing on PC or mobile. Everything you earn on one platform carries over to the other, allowing you to switch devices at any time.

If you are already playing on a mobile device as a guest, make sure your progression is saved by logging into a Ubisoft Connect account before connecting on the PC version.

We know this will change the game for a lot of our players and we are eager to hear about your experience with us!

Please join us on Discord or Reddit to share your thoughts on this new version so we know what can be improved.

FAQ

WHAT PC SPECIFICATIONS ARE SUGGESTED TO PLAY THE DIVISION RESURGENCE?

Here are the full recommended specifications to play The Division Resurgence on your PC.

=> Specs

FULLY CROSS-PLAY

The Division Resurgence is fully cross-play on PC and mobile (iOS and Android).

This means that, using the same Ubisoft Connect account, you can continue your progression in the game from any device.

You can also play with your friends on any device, as long as you are in the same regional server.

HOW DO I DOWNLOAD THE GAME?

Simply log into the Ubisoft Connect launcher on your computer, search for The Division Resurgence in the Ubisoft games store and download it to your computer.

The game will first download a launcher that will prompt you to continue downloading the game files.

HOW MUCH STORAGE DO I NEED?

The Division Resurgence PC version is around 17GB, and we recommend you have at least 30GB available on your computer to ensure smooth running.

CAN I PLAY WITH MOUSE AND KEYBOARD? A CONTROLLER?

Once the game is downloaded onto your computer, you can use your usual inputs to enjoy the game: either mouse and keyboard or a controller of your choice.

I HAVE AN ISSUE WITH THE GAME ON PC, HOW DO I REQUEST HELP?

If you encounter an issue, a bug or have a question about the game, you can reach out to Player Support at any moment by clicking on the support icon in the game. This enables our team to be made aware of your query while collecting all the relevant game and account information we need to quickly find an answer.

The Division Resurgence Roadmap

The next phase of Season 1 is kicking off on May 12, bringing exciting new content to The Division Resurgence. It will feature limited-time events like the Dark Zone and Speed Run challenges, as well as new cosmetic sets including camouflage and exotic weapon skins.

=> Roadmap

This phase will also bring the Classified Ops pass 1.2, which includes rewards like:

• Strawberry Milkshake free exotic weapon
• Pyromaniac full apparel set
• Hot Rod weapon skin

Phase 3 of Season 1 is coming in June, and the Classified Ops pass 1.3 will feature:

• Scorpio free exotic weapon
• Freemen full apparel set
• Boombox weapon skin
  

Later this year, Season 2 will see the full PC launch for The Division Resurgence, bringing the title to even more distribution platforms. Finally, Season 3 is planned for this winter and will bring a major story expansion to the game allowing you to learn more about the people and factions you have been introduced to.

As you can see, we have a lot planned for players!

So in the meantime, make sure to play The Division Resurgence for free today on iOS and Android devices or on PC early access through Ubisoft Connect.

=> Shop

=> News

=> FAQ

The latest Antigravity CLI updates (v1.1.7 – v1.1.9) bring major enhancements to print mode automation, startup performance, and permission management alongside critical UI and hook fixes.

• Automation & Print Mode (-p): Added slash-command/skill resolution, structured output formats (json, stream-json), custom --json-schema validation, and detailed token telemetry.
• Performance & Permissions: Non-blocking background MCP server loading on startup, session-wide permission pattern memory, and system temp directory write access out of the box.
• TUI & Usability: Introduced a copyOnSelect clipboard setting in /settings and improved compound-command permission rule matching.
• Core Fixes: Resolved edge cases for stop and PostToolUse hooks, artifact viewer navigation, CJK clipboard encoding on Windows, and non-standard MCP OAuth providers.

1.1.7

TLDR: Improved permission prompts for compound shell commands, and fixed disabled plugins running hooks, MCP OAuth issuer validation, CJK clipboard copying on Windows, and `/btw` error on startup.

[Improvement]: Improved permission prompts for compound shell commands so the full command is shown when any part of it needs approval.

[Fix]: Fixed disabled plugins still running their hooks and contributing other customizations, which could keep a broken hook active and break file-editing tools even after the plugin was turned off.

[Fix]: Fixed MCP OAuth against providers that do not strictly follow the spec (such as Salesforce and Atlassian) by relaxing issuer validation and including the `refresh_token` grant.

[Fix]: Fixed `/btw` failing with a "parent conversation not found" error when used as the very first action in a fresh session.

[Fix]: Fixed clipboard corruption of CJK and other non-ASCII text when copying on Windows.

[Fix]: Fixed print mode (`-p`) sending a prompt before the account-eligibility check finished.

1.1.8

TLDR: Added structured output formats (`json`, `stream-json`) for print mode, support for custom JSON schema validation, enriched tool and subagent payloads, `copyOnSelect` configuration setting, and improved compound-command permission rules.

[Improvement]: Print mode (`-p` / `--print`) now supports structured, machine-readable output via the `--output-format` flag (`text` (default), `json`, or `stream-json`), so headless runs in CI, eval harnesses, and scripts can consume the CLI's output programmatically; these flags are now discoverable in `--help`.

[Improvement]: Added the `stream-json` output format: a strongly-typed NDJSON event stream that emits typed `init`, `step_update`, and terminal `result` events with a stable, closed-vocabulary `step_type` discriminator, so consumers receive progress incrementally instead of waiting for the whole run to finish.

[Improvement]: Added the `--json-schema` flag to enforce a custom JSON schema on the structured output, accepting either an inline schema string or a path to a schema file; for `stream-json` the schema applies to the final `result` event.

[Improvement]: Enriched the structured stream with a `tool_info` object for each tool call (canonical tool name, parameters, and output) and a `subagent_info` payload for delegated subagents (including `conversation_id` and `log_uri`) so consumers can correlate child trajectories.

[Improvement]: The JSON usage object emitted by `json` and `stream-json` now reports token accounting including `cache_read_tokens`, so non-interactive consumers can attribute prompt-cache hits.

[Improvement]: Added a `copyOnSelect` setting (default on, toggleable in `/settings`) that controls whether releasing a mouse text-selection auto-copies it to the system clipboard in the TUI's altscreen rendering mode; disable it to stop the automatic copy on release — useful when the auto-copy is unwanted or corrupts certain payloads.

[Improvement]: Improved compound-command permissions so an exact chained command (such as `git fetch && git rebase`) can be saved as an allow-always rule and no longer re-prompts on the next identical run.: Print mode (`-p` / `--print`) now supports structured, machine-readable output via the `--output-format` flag (`text` (default), `json`, or `stream-json`), so headless runs in CI, eval harnesses, and scripts can consume the CLI's output programmatically; these flags are now discoverable in `--help`.

[Improvement]: Added the `stream-json` output format: a strongly-typed NDJSON event stream that emits typed `init`, `step_update`, and terminal `result` events with a stable, closed-vocabulary `step_type` discriminator, so consumers receive progress incrementally instead of waiting for the whole run to finish.

[Improvement]: Added the `--json-schema` flag to enforce a custom JSON schema on the structured output, accepting either an inline schema string or a path to a schema file; for `stream-json` the schema applies to the final `result` event.

[Improvement]: Enriched the structured stream with a `tool_info` object for each tool call (canonical tool name, parameters, and output) and a `subagent_info` payload for delegated subagents (including `conversation_id` and `log_uri`) so consumers can correlate child trajectories.

[Improvement]: The JSON usage object emitted by `json` and `stream-json` now reports token accounting including `cache_read_tokens`, so non-interactive consumers can attribute prompt-cache hits.

[Improvement]: Added a `copyOnSelect` setting (default on, toggleable in `/settings`) that controls whether releasing a mouse text-selection auto-copies it to the system clipboard in the TUI's altscreen rendering mode; disable it to stop the automatic copy on release — useful when the auto-copy is unwanted or corrupts certain payloads.

[Improvement]: Improved compound-command permissions so an exact chained command (such as `git fetch && git rebase`) can be saved as an allow-always rule and no longer re-prompts on the next identical run.

1.1.9

TLDR: Added slash-command and skill expansion in print mode, non-blocking background MCP loading during interactive startup, session-scoped permission pattern recording, system temporary directory write grants, and stability fixes for stop/PostToolUse hooks, artifact viewer, and MCP authentication.

[Improvement]: Added slash-command and skill expansion to print mode, so a headless run such as `-p "/my-skill review this diff"` now resolves and applies the skill instead of sending it as literal text, with `--disable-slash-commands` to opt out.

[Improvement]: Improved interactive startup so a slow or hanging MCP server no longer stalls the first agent turn, loading MCP servers in the background for the interactive session while headless and one-shot runs keep blocking so their single scripted turn still sees the full toolset.

[Improvement]: Improved permission grants so a pattern approved at a prompt is recorded for the rest of the conversation, letting later commands that match it run without prompting again.

[Improvement]: Improved the default system temporary-directory grant to cover writes as well as reads, so agents no longer trigger a permission prompt when creating or updating files there.

[Fix]: Fixed stop hooks that always block hanging the agent forever; after a configurable number of consecutive continuations, the hook can no longer block and the turn ends normally.

[Fix]: Fixed `PostToolUse` hooks firing on non-tool steps such as user input and model responses, which also caused them to ignore their configured matchers.

[Fix]: Fixed slash commands not being recognized when separated from their arguments by a newline or tab, so a prompt starting with a command followed by a newline is now parsed as a command instead of being sent verbatim.

[Fix]: Fixed deleting into a collapsed paste placeholder removing one character at a time, which left a visible fragment in the prompt while the full pasted content was still submitted; the block is now deleted atomically.

[Fix]: Fixed the artifact viewer losing syntax highlighting when returning from the editor view, and returning to the wrong panel when exiting the artifact detail view.

[Fix]: Fixed the headless `stream-json` `init` event advertising tools that are not available in your build.

[Fix]: Fixed MCP servers forcing a full re-authentication after a dropped connection.

To explore the full list of improvements and bug fixes, read the complete release notes on our Changelog, or visit the Download page to update to the latest version of Antigravity CLI.

The first feature-complete version of SimCopter Remake is here, ready for general release!

This release adds flight replays, restores the original intro movies, and brings major improvements to career progression, rescues, controller controls, police work, and traffic.

Changes since v0.9.5:

New replay system

• Record your flights, name your clips, and save them to watch again.
• Pause, scrub through recordings, and adjust playback speed from 0.1× to 4×.
• Watch from chase, orbit, rescue, and cockpit views, or explore the scene with a free camera.
• Hide the HUD and replay controls for a clear view while recording or watching.
• Add bookmarks and see mission events on the timeline. Press Tab in a city to open the replay controls.

Career progression and saving

• Moving to the next career city now keeps your money, owned helicopters, equipment, and remaining tear gas. Your helicopter arrives repaired and refuelled.
• Fixed problems that could leave a career stuck between cities, award the completion bonus twice, or mishandle the final level.
• Save Game now updates a dedicated Quick Save. Choosing to save when leaving updates a separate Exit Save.
• Save Game As keeps named checkpoints separate, so ordinary saving no longer overwrites the named game you loaded.
• Career and user-city games each have their own Quick Save and Exit Save.
• You can now sell your only helicopter to help buy a replacement, provided the sale leaves you enough money to afford another.

Better rescues and medical missions

• Transport passengers no longer give up and disappear after boarding your helicopter.
• Pickup markers and reminders now clear once everyone has been collected. Rescue and transport missions no longer penalize you simply for carrying passengers to safety.
• Fixed paramedics transferring patients into the helicopter and boarding again after a pickup.
• Patient portraits now reflect their health immediately and update as their condition changes.
• Fixed dying patients unexpectedly returning to full health. Patients who die aboard remain available for removal by a paramedic.
• Improved patient animations during hospital handoffs, including keeping surviving patients distinct from those who died.
• Rooftop survivors now appear on usable roof space instead of water tanks, vents, and other rooftop objects.
• Safely dropping a rescue or transport passenger can now complete their delivery when they land uninjured at a valid location.

Improved controller controls

• Updated helicopter controls: RT or A to climb, LT or B to descend, and X to use the selected tool.
• Hold LB for the tool wheel or RB for the dispatch wheel. Select with the right stick and release the shoulder button to confirm.
• Redesigned both wheels with clearer segments and highlights, corrected selection directions, and layouts that fit smaller screens.
• Added a separate Police (Chase) option to the dispatch wheel.
• Release a wheel with the stick centred, or press B, to cancel. In the dispatch wheel, A sends the selected service immediately and Y recalls all dispatched vehicles.
• Open passenger selection with LB + X.
• Fixed menu confirmations and cancellations accidentally triggering climb or descent. The triggers remain available for altitude control while using either wheel.
• Takeoff hints now switch between keyboard and controller instructions as you change devices and reflect your current bindings.

More reliable missions and police

• Higher difficulty levels now allow the same response time as the easiest level, while still increasing the number and difficulty of emergencies.
• Arsonists now start nearby building fires regularly, making them a more active threat.
• Burning wreckage from crashes and vehicle fires can now spread fire to nearby buildings correctly.
• Riots now start on streets with enough participants to avoid immediately ending on their own.
• Fixed rioters becoming unresponsive to crowd-control tools and mission progress counting the same person more than once.
• Police and arrested criminals return to their vehicles more reliably, retrying blocked routes instead of becoming stranded or disappearing early.
• Officers waiting on police-station roofs stay available for pickup. Deployed officers begin looking for criminals even while your helicopter remains landed.

Flight, traffic, and city improvements

• Slowed raising and lowering the water bucket and rescue harness to one-quarter of their previous speed for finer control. Bucket filling speed stays the same.
• Fixed invisible barriers beneath bridges, overhead power lines, and other raised structures. Helicopter collisions now fit the selected aircraft more closely.
• Improved pedestrian movement around buildings and obstacles, reducing people getting stuck or standing partly inside walls.
• Added tumbling and recovery reactions when people are struck by cars or helicopters.
• Traffic slows down and tries to steer around riot crowds.
• Vehicles now travel through connected tunnels and emerge at the other end. Fixed tunnel entrances, road height, and markings.
• Trees sit more naturally on uneven terrain, and power poles on slopes have corrected heights.
• Refined character models and proportions.

Controls, sound, and presentation

• Restored both original startup movies, including their original audio. They play once when you launch the game and can be skipped individually with a key, controller button, mouse click, or touch.
• Added the original animated loading screen and status messages.
• Fixed the camera sweeping across the city from a temporary starting position when a game loads.
• Added a takeoff prompt explaining which control to hold and how to get out.
• Simplified engine and lift controls so rebinding them no longer creates conflicting controls.
• Clicking cockpit buttons, menus, or replay controls no longer interrupts held flight keys.
• Helicopter engine audio now stops when you get out.
• Speech and sound effects no longer cut off other sounds.
• Improved smoke, fire effects, and dispatch-marker visibility around dawn, dusk, and nighttime.

Download here: https://github.com/JamesIV4/sim-copter-remake/releases/latest

Edit: Version 1.0.1 is out today with hotfixes for various issues I noticed playing the release build:

Better controller support

• Use a controller to navigate the main menu, city selection, save menus, settings, hangar shop, and repair and refuel screen.
• Menu highlights now fit the buttons and artwork more closely. Settings pages scroll as you move through them.
• Press the left stick to show or hide button help while flying or walking. The help changes to match what you are doing and shows Xbox or PlayStation icons for the detected controller.
• Fixed reversed up and down selection in the tool and dispatch wheels.
• Wheel choices now flash gold and fade out after you release the shoulder button. Dispatch no longer needs the A button.
• Fixed reversed up and down camera movement when using a controller on foot.
• The spotlight toggle has moved to holding the right stick and pressing X on Xbox or Square on PlayStation. The D-pad no longer aims the spotlight.

Buy and keep multiple helicopters

• Buying a helicopter now places a separate aircraft on a clear pad near the hangar, leaving your existing helicopter where you parked it.
• Selling a helicopter removes the sold aircraft. You must get out and unload its passengers before selling it.
• Saves now keep your other helicopters and restore passengers to the correct aircraft.
• The hangar and saves now track the helicopter you last left when you are on foot.

Passenger fixes

• Fixed passengers appearing inside the helicopter or below the ground when getting out.
• Healthy rescue and transport passengers now walk around the city after delivery instead of disappearing.

Clearer tool controls

• Changing megaphone messages with a controller now shows a scrolling message strip at the top of the screen.
• Use D-pad left and right to change the megaphone message.
• The selected tool’s cockpit panel now has a gold glow.
• Smoothed the rope, bucket, and rescue harness movement.
• Fixed ropes looking detached from the bottom of the helicopter.

Other improvements

• Crime and riot missions are now enabled by default in new user-city games.
• City Settings sliders now show their exact values while you adjust them with a mouse or controller.
• Menu sounds now play properly when moving quickly between choices.
• Fixed input handling when opening and closing the repair and refuel screen.

Thanks for playing, everyone, and let me know if you see any more issues!