The first update for Sea of Thieves is out today, and this one is actually a full game update instead of a minor patch. Get ready to download a 10GB file on the base Xbox One, and a 19GB file on the Xbox One X or a Windows 10 PC. Rare said today that this is exceptional and that future updates should be much smaller in size.
Rare has been listening closely to user feedback over the past couple of days, and this first update bring several bug fixes and performance improvements. Be aware that there are also some persisting known issues, including delayed gold rewards and Xbox achievements. You can read the full changelog below:
Fixed Issues
- Players who have redeemed their Black Dog Pack pre-order code will now correctly see these items in their in-game chests. Not received your code? Check your Xbox Live messages over the next couple of days.
- Characters should no longer lose details such as hair colour and scars.
- When digging up a chest, there is no longer a chance that it will be impossible to pick up.
- Players should no longer intermittently be missing items and weapons when loading into the game.
- Weapon, clothing and ship cosmetic changes made after migrating server will now persist across sessions.
- Players will now correctly see other players titles.
- Snakes will now behave correctly, turning to face the player when agitated.
- Animal and skeleton movement around slopes has been improved.
- The game will no longer enter an unresponsive state after accepting a game invitation whilst matchmaking.
- Merchant Alliance notifications for handing in various items have been corrected.
- Lighting has been tweaked in order to improve performance on multiple islands and outposts.
- Fixed tinnitus sound which persists after being killed by multiple explosive barrels.
- Seagulls now fly over floating barrels.
- Players can no longer be held by a seemingly invisible Kraken tentacle.
- Fixed a range of potential game crashes.
Performance Improvements
- Significant performance optimisations across all platforms, specifically targeting the 4K native resolution of Xbox One X.
- Drastically reduced the likelihood of tearing when using the small ship.
- Reduced the likelihood of tearing when inside the Taverns.
- Sizeable framerate improvements when traversing large islands.
- Reduced likelihood of framerate hitches when navigating outposts.
- Optimised Foliage for smoother experience in overgrown jungle areas.
Known Issues
- Player gold and reputation can be delayed when cashing in a reward.
- Player achievements can be delayed. For an update on both of these issues, please read our Launch Update written by Executive Producer, Joe Neate.
- Bounty quest skeletons sometimes do not spawn or cannot be found. If you encounter this bug, a potential work around is to sail away from the island until it’s out of range, and then sail back in to trigger the Island Name banners.
- Joining a player whose ship is parked at an active skeleton fort will prevent the joining player’s radial menus being opened.
- Rare Lore Items throughout the world will read in English, regardless of current language settings.
- “Hunter of Cursed Crews”, Commendation is not updating.
- Players may become comically smaller after fighting the Kraken.
Sea of Thieves is Rare’s first “game as a service,” and the developer is planning further improvements and optimizations for all platforms. After listening to player feedback, the developers also said that they won’t move forward with their “death cost” system where players would get penalized for dying.
Update: Rare is investigating an issue currently affecting Xbox Games Pass players. The team is working on a fix, and we invite you to follow the Sea of Thieves Twitter account for updates.
