Sea Of Thieves Update Released; Here Are The Patch Notes

Sea of Thieves' first week of availability hasn't been entirely smooth, with the game suffering from a variety of server problems and other technical issues. A new update--the first since launch--has now been released to alleviate some of the problems that players continue to deal with.

Following a batch of server maintenance, the update is now available on Xbox One and PC. As detailed on the game's official website, this "contains a wide array of fixes across our services, stability, and game experience." It's a sizable download, ranging from 10 GB on Xbox One to nearly 20 GB for the Xbox One X and PC versions. Rare explained that it opted to go for a full game update because it was the fastest way to get the fixes into players' hands. "If we'd wanted it to be a smaller client update we would have had to delay by a number of days, and felt the priority here was releasing the improvements to our player base," the company said.

Rare also shared full patch notes for the update (version 1.01) on its forums. These detail the long list of bugs that have been addressed, which range from Black Dog pack items not showing up and snakes facing the wrong direction to lost cosmetic changes and chests that can't be picked up. There are also improvements to performance, and screen tearing should be less common. You can see the full patch notes below.

Much as it did after the launch issues, Rare also shared another developer update video, which you can watch above. It's noted that demand for the game has been "off the charts" and the current priority is to get it working as intended. Several known issues remain even with this update installed, and those are discussed in the video. Those include delayed gold and reputation rewards, delayed Achievements, and Bounty quest skeletons being impossible to find.

Rare also said it's listening to fans' requests for improvements to the game and that it's discussing those and will talk about them in a future video. One change it has already confirmed in response to feedback is the cancelation of the proposed death cost penalty. You can read more about the game in our Sea of Thieves review and check out some beginner's tips to help you get started.

Sea Of Thieves Update 1.01 Patch Notes

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.

Further improvements and optimisations for all platforms are ongoing.

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.