It’s been a month since the latest Helldivers 2 patch was released, and true to their word, Arrowhead has been delaying content to prioritize stabilizing the game’s performance. However, they’ve stayed quiet about the PC issues some players have reported and are working to address major concerns, like the huge file size difference between PC and console.
Where’s the “Performance Patch”?
Baskinator, the Community Manager for Helldivers 2, shared a teaser about the next patch: “We know some of you were expecting a patch today, but it is still cooking. We will update you with more information tomorrow.” Now, a day later, we’ve gotten a peek at what the patch will address and when it might be released.
Upcoming Patch Details
“Freedoms greetings Helldivers,
We want to share an update on our most recent patch. It was originally planned for Tuesday, but a last-minute certification issue caused a delay. The team is now targeting delivery by the end of this week, with staff ready to work over the weekend if needed. There’s still a small chance the issue won’t be fully resolved by Friday, which could push the patch to next week. We’re doing everything we can to deliver it this week and will provide an update on Friday either way. Thanks for your patience and understanding.
As we previously shared, we have pushed back our content releases, including Warbonds, to focus on fixing performance, bugs, and balance. The upcoming patch includes many bug fixes, performance optimizations and a weapons/enemy balance pass – not included in the list below. We want to share a smaller list of optimizations with you ahead of time so that you can get a better idea of what’s coming, and then the full patch notes will go live with the patch as usual.
Optimizations for the upcoming release:
- Optimized status effects
- Optimized physics by only enabling powered ragdolls when needed
- Optimized physics body handling for damage calculations
- Optimized Automaton units and NPC eyes, by changing them from particle effects to shaders
- Optimized AI behaviors by analyzing and stripping out redundant code
- Reduced stuttering during drop-in sequence for missions on Hive Worlds
- Improved audio IO performance
- Snow distribution and overall look has been reworked
- Improved performance by tweaking LOD settings for characters
- Optimized asset distribution for several planets types
- Optimized scattered assets such as grass on various planet types
- Optimized asset distribution in Hiveworlds and Terminid caves
- Optimized asset setup and geometry for assets used in Hiveworlds and Terminid caves
- Optimized status effect physics and particle systems while maintaining visual feedback and fidelity
- Optimized various Automaton explosion VFX
- Optimized Acid Rain effects during Acid Storms
- Optimized Dragonroach fire attack VFX
- Made various optimizations to the fire system, including particle and light optimization.
- Improved performance by optimizing the rendering of several shaders
Thank you, Helldivers, for your patience and unwavering commitment to Managed Democracy. Your courage and restraint from calling in orbital strikes over patch delay, keeps the galaxy free. For Freedom!”
Baskinator, the Community Manager for Helldivers 2 via the Official Helldivers 2 Discord