As promised, Bethesda released the first patch for Fallout 4 today. The update, currently in beta, is available for download through Steam.
It's not a huge patch by any means. Don't expect any flashy new features. The sexiest change here is that you can now remap your number keys. Ooh.
Instead, Bethesda focused on making the game more stable. They also fixed three quest bugs, including one that blocked player's progress. Here are the full patch notes:
New Features
- Number pad keys can now be used for remapping
- Remapping Activate now works on Quick Container
Fixes
- General memory and stability improvements
- Fixed issue where equipped weapons become locked after completing Reunions
- Fixed issue with When Freedom Calls where the quest would not complete
- During Confidence Man, fixed issue where player's health would continuously regenerate
- Fixed crash related to jumping into water and reloading saved games
- Fixed issue where Launcher would not save God Rays Quality setting properly
There are some notable omissions from the list. Since launch, Fallout 4 players have found exploits that allow them to have infinite carrying weight and earn infinite bottle caps. Neither problem was addressed by the patch. I'm not surprised that Bethesda would prioritize fixing bugs over stopping exploits. Crashes or blocked quests are way too frustrating than the knowledge that someone else in the world is using a bug to help their progress. I mean, the game already has cheat codes that do essentially the same thing as these exploits.
Again, this is a beta patch so there could be some unexpected issues. Bethesda recommends that you back up your saved games before installing it. If not, at least make sure you don't overwrite them. Should you revert back to the older version of Fallout 4, these saves more than likely won't work.
If you want to download the beta patch, right-click Fallout 4 in your Steam library and choose "Properties." Go to the "Betas" tab of the window that pops up and select "Beta Update" from the lone drop-down menu you see there. After a few minutes, the game will update with the patch and you'll see "Fallout 4 [beta]" in your Steam library.
Bethesda hasn't said when the patch will be officially released on PC, or arrive on PS4 and Xbox One. Exact release dates will depend on how the beta goes and how quickly Sony/Microsoft certify the patch for their respective consoles.
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