New PUBG PC test patch to overhaul all grenades, take M24 from crates, brings big performance boost
PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds will release another major patch on PC this week.
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| New PUBG PC test patch to overhaul all grenades, take M24 from crates, brings big performance boost |
This week’s PUBG update actually hit the test servers early yesterday, but PUBG Corp only came to reveal details at a later date. Patch 14, as the developers call it, comes with a number of key changes.
The biggest one is an overhaul of all the throwables, including frag grenades, flash grenades, and molotovs. Frag grenades have been heavily buffed, both in their effective range and in damage.
Stun grenades will now not only impair the player’s vision, they will also do the same for their hearing, and ability to fire accurately (without ADS). This update to stun grenades comes with a new set of animations that should make it easier to tell if your target has been stunned (give up eyes).
The Molotovs are also increasingly expanding into their area of effect, but the most interesting addition is that the fire will now spread along wooden surfaces in the room, such as floors and walls. The flames can spread further when you throw more.
The M24 sniper rifle, which has long been a chest-only weapon, can now be found as regular floor loot. To compensate for its increased availability, the patch lowered its damage from 88 to 79. PUBG Corp. said its aim was to provide an alternative to the Kar98k.
Apart from the mechanical changes, the update brings a new anti-cheat detector developed in-house. Now you will see it launch alongside the game, and it offers a compatibility mode in case of default the security mode gives you trouble.
As far as performance goes, and following up from a recent developer letter, patch 14 makes a few updates that should result in a performance boost for all. That includes improving character model rendering, optimizing character movement while skydiving, and most of all, increasing “the speed at which servers transfer data about objects.”
The update will hit live servers after four hours of maintenance starting today at 7pm PT/10pm ET, which is 3am on June 31, which is also when the new leaderboard season will begin.
Check out all the sticky notes below.
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| Effects of Grenades and Stun Grenades |
Gameplay
Increased frag grenade damage and effective range
The previous frag must be within the player’s 2.6m range to deal lethal damage. They now deal lethal damage within 3.5m, moderate damage from 3.5m to 8.5m, and low damage from 8.5m to 10m.
The maximum effective range of the stun grenade has been increased to 20m
Depending on the distance from the explosion, the immediate effect can blind the player for a maximum of 5.5 seconds, and a minimum of one second (when 20m away).
Depending on the distance from the explosion, the indirect effect can blind the player for a maximum of three seconds.
Characters who were blinded by stun grenades now cover their faces. This is a new animation.
The audience is now also blinded when they witness someone hitting with a stun grenade
Stun grenades will now blind and split the thrower if they explode behind their backs when cooked.
Now you will not get ADS when blinded.
Molotov cocktails now have new effects and their damage has been increased.
Molotov can now deal indirect damage and burn damage (as damage over time), depending on whether or not you stand directly in the blaze. If you are in a fire, you will take both types of damage.
Indirect damage (taken while standing in flames) has been increased from 10 to 12.5 damage per second.
Once burned, players will take burns as damage over time (10 damage per second) for a total of four seconds.
Now you will not be able to ADS when taking burns.
The fire is now spreading further along the wooden surfaces of the houses
The fire from a Molotov spreads further if another Molotov is thrown on the fire.
A new animation has been added for the character model suffering from burns. They will try to put out the fire using their hands.
– Attachment safety and balance:
Reduces SCAR-L . vertical and horizontal recoil
Decreased M24’s basic damage from 88 to 79
The M24 will no longer be dropped in the maintenance package. It grows in the world
Tactical and cheek stocks are now less effective in increasing the rate of reverse recovery. Now increase ADS speed.
The light grip no longer affects the basic recoil control of the weapon or the recoil of the recovery speed
Light grip now reduces first shot/single shot by about 15%. Animation kick reduction has been changed to 20% (from 30%).
To make Vector easier to find, we’ve increased the spawn rate at the expense of the spawn rate of the UMP-9 (overall SMG spawn rate remains the same).
World DMRs spawn rate increased.
UI/UX
Added a UI message indicating when a healing item cannot be used.
Average swimming distance has been added to player stats, on career screen
New anti-cheat technology:
We have added a new anti-cheat solution, developed in-house at PUBG Corp
Expect to see a new popup when you start the client.
It will be more helpful to us if you run the anti-cheat tool using Security Mode, but if it gives you problems, please choose Compatibility Mode.
Performance
We’ve improved the rendering process of the character model to prevent some minor frame drop issues.
We’ve optimized character movement and animations while skydiving to increase the framerate when multiple players are nearby.
We have made some improvements to our network code to reduce network latency.
We’ve increased the speed at which the server transfers data about objects (items, doors, fences) to address the fact that sometimes items appear at the end after the player parachutes.
We’ve improved some inefficient processes with the way the server updates certain frames on vehicles and character models. This should solve some of the abnormal physics affecting the vehicle.
Voice
You can now activate the new HRTF (Head Associated Transfer Function) sound feature in the options menu (only for enemy gunfire). This feature, which simulates full three-dimensional sound even for two-channel stereo headphones, was described in more detail on our dev blog last week.
Reduce the volume of aircraft maintenance packages.
Main banner
The total rating points gained/lost per match has been increased, to better define skill differences between players.
Damage repair
Fixed some issues causing abnormal collisions on the spot on Erangel and Miramar.
Characters are no longer stuck when jumping over certain places around Erangel.
Fixed an issue allowing characters to pass objects at certain locations in Miramar.
Improved throwing trajectory indicator accuracy for stun grenades
Fixed a visual error on the inventory screen that occurred when attaching a choke to a sawed off.
Fixed an issue resulting in some weird crashes if the player ever jumped on top of a vehicle that had the player in it.
The scope aiming at the arrow is no longer incorrectly enabled and set to the wrong value by default.
Fixed an issue causing stun grenades to appear to bounce temporarily after breaking windows.
Fixed an issue where the cheek pad vertical shift control attribute was excluded in the in-game tooltip.
Fixed an issue preventing Cheeks from adding 10% vertical reverse recovery when attached to an SLR.
Fixed an issue where hip-shooting for an extended duration, the gun will appear lowered
Fixed an issue that caused the effect of stun grenades to appear differently depending on the graphics settings.
